UNICEF says the failure by millions of Nigerian mothers to breastfeed their babies for at least six months is depriving newborns of essential nutrients and antibodies.
The agency is now urging Nigeria to introduce a policy to enforce mandatory breastfeeding to end frequent infant deaths linked to malnutrition.
Laboratory Scientist, Kosi Ugboaja is resuming work for the day – not without her 9month old daughter Kamara.
For the past 3 years, she’s worked at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) – an organisation that affords her the opportunity of working and taking care of Kamara.
The organization has a policy of putting families into consideration – It provided a crèche for nursing mothers here.
“Since she’s here all I need to do is to time my work, time the time i go to the creche to feed her and things like thats so the closeness is there, theres no vacuum between I and my baby. I’m not missing anything. I’m enjoying the whole motherhood with my job still intact.” Ugboaja who is a mother said
For several mothers like Kosi who have had their kids pass through the crèche here, it’s been a rewarding experience.
Not only have they formed a bond with their children, it’s also been able to save them quite a lot from the purchase of infant formulas and cost of treatment in hospitals.
Nigeria does not have a policy on breastfeeding at work places-so initiatives like this one are purely discretional and hard to come by
Breastfeeding is fast being recognized as one of the best buys in global health to save lives. The UN children’s agency, UNICEF has been pushing for an increase in breastfeeding worldwide.
Only 17 per cent of babies in Nigeria are breastfed exclusively between 0-5 months – and that’s by far below the UN global target of 50 per cent. Now there is growing concerns about the Economic cost of not breastfeeding on Human Capital Development and Health systems in Nigeria.
