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There's a product capable of saving the lives of thousands of children in developing countries. This product protects babies against diseases such as colds, otitis, bronchitis, asthma or allergies. It is available anywhere in the world, remote and inaccessible as it may be, and it is free.
This miracle product is none other than breast milk, capable of all that and much more. According to the World Health Organization, breastfeeding could save the lives of 800,000 children a year in developing countries.
In developing countries, malnutrition, lack of food or water pollution cause the death of millions of children. The solution, according to nutritionists consists of improving breastfeeding practices. And it is that children breastfed by their mothers have a much better chance of living than those who do not receive breast milk.
In some countries it is not normal or common to breastfeed the baby from the first moment, so much so that sometimes concoctions such as tea with honey are used. It may seem strange that precisely this happens in countries with few resources, where breast milk is the easiest food to get and the cheapest. Yet all over the world only 43% of babies drink milk in the first hour of life.
Why is this happening? In tropical or hot countries, they replace milk with water, believing that they will prevent dehydration of the baby. This water is often contaminated, it is not even boiled or treated, and babies get sick and die.
Another reason is because they distrust that colostrum can feed the baby. However, these small yellow droplets contain all the necessary nutrients for the newborn.
The ban on breastfeeding in public, ignorance and the arrival of formula milk in developing countries also explain why some women do not breastfeed their newborn babies.
As the WHO says, if all children were breastfed within the first hour after birth and only received this food until six months, hundreds of thousands of children would save their lives. Supporting breastfeeding is therefore important in developed countries, but vital in developing countries.
You can read more articles similar to Improving breastfeeding practices could save thousands of lives, in the category of On-site Breastfeeding.
