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New Delhi: According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), about 78 million or three out of five babies are not breastfed in the United States. early, exposing them to more mortality and illness and making them less likely to continue breastfeeding.
Most of these babies are born in low- and middle-income countries. According to the report, newborns who breastfeed during the first hour of their lives are much more likely to survive. Even a delay of a few hours after birth could have fatal consequences.
It should be noted that skin-to-skin contact with breastfeeding stimulates maternal breast milk production, including colostrum, also known as the baby's "first vaccine," which is extremely rich in nutrients and antibodies. . Executive Director of UNICEF, Henrietta H. Fore, said: "When comes the time to start breastfeeding, timing is paramount." In many countries, this can even be a matter of life and death. "Newborns miss the benefits of early breastfeeding and the reasons are too often altered: mothers simply do not get enough of support for breastfeeding in the crucial minutes after birth, even among health facility medical staff 19659002] Breastfeeding rates in the first hour after birth are highest in eastern and southern Africa (65% ) and the lowest in East Asia and the Pacific (32%), the report says.
Nearly nine in ten babies born in Burundi, Sri Lanka and Vanuatu are breastfed in the first hour.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, said: "Breastfeeding gives children the best possible start". urgently increase support for mothers – be it family members, health workers, employers and governments, so that they can give their children the start they deserve.
Too many newborns wait too long for different reasons, including:
* Feeding newborns with food or beverages, including the formula: Routine practices, such as colostrum rejection, a senior who Feeding baby honey or health professionals who give the newborn a specific liquid, such as sugar water or infant formula, delay the first critical contact of the newborn with his mother.
* Increase in Optional Caesareans: In Egypt, caesarean section rates more than doubled between 2005 and 2014, from 20% to 52%. During the same period, rates of early initiation of breastfeeding increased from 40% to 27%. A study conducted in 51 countries notes that early initiation rates are significantly lower in neonates delivered by caesarean section. In Egypt, only 19% of babies born by cesarean section were breastfed within the first hour after birth, compared with 39% of babies born through natural birth.
* Gaps in the quality of care provided to mothers and newborns: According to the report, the presence of a skilled birth attendant does not appear to affect early breastfeeding rates. In 58 countries between 2005 and 2017, deliveries in health facilities increased by 18 percentage points, while early initiation rates increased by 6 percentage points. In many cases, babies are separated from their mothers immediately after birth and the advice of health workers is limited
Earlier studies, cited in the report, show that newborns who started breastfeeding between two and 23 hours after birth have a 33% higher risk of death than those who started breastfeeding in the US. hour after birth
. day or more after birth, the risk was more than twice as high. The report urges governments, donors and other policymakers to adopt strict legal measures to restrict the marketing of infant formula and other breast-milk substitutes.
The World Breastfeeding Collective led by WHO and UNICEF published the 2018 Global Breastfeeding Dashboard. In this paper, they encourage women to become breastfeeding mothers. countries to promote policies and programs that help all mothers start breastfeeding during the first hour of their child's life and continue for as long as they want.
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