Functions on breast feeding

VADODARA, AUG 3: The Baroda Medical College's Paediatrics department will organise a series of programmes during the next four days to ma...

VADODARA, AUG 3: The Baroda Medical College8217;s Paediatrics department will organise a series of programmes during the next four days to mark World Breast-Feeding Week.

Briefing local newspersons here on Tuesday, department head Dulari Gandhi and M V Ambwani, President of the city branch of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, said that while the preliminary round of a quiz on breast-feeding for undergraduates and interns was held on Tuesday, the finals would be held on Wednesday.

A street play to spread awareness about the benefits of breast-feeding among the common people would be staged in the S S G Hospital on August 6, the said.

On August 7, the college students, hospital doctors and non-government organisations would take out an awareness rally in and around the hospital campus, which would conclude at Gandhi Nagar Gruh where hospital superintendent Kamal Pathak and others would address the participants.

World Breast-Feeding Week 1999 stresses the importance of integrating knowledge about breast feeding into our educational systems at all the levels in society, according to Gandhi and assistant professor Niranjan Shendurnikar of the paed atrics department.

According to them, new studies had dispelled several common myths about breast feeding see box.

8220;Babies should feed exclusively on breast milk upto six months, and thereafter continue to be breast-fed, along with appropriate complementary foods for upto two years and even beyond,8221; he added.

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What mothers must know
Human milk is biochemically engineered to suit the baby8217;s physical, mental and nutritional requirements. It is readily available, absolutely sterile, esaily digestable and at the temperature the baby needs. Recent data shows breast-fed babies have lower risk of coronary artery disease, diabetes and certain cancers, and are more intellegent than those fed on non-human milk.

It is the best defence against diarrhoea, pneumonia, allergies and asthma. Exclusive breast-feeding for the first four to six months could prevent deaths of 1.3 million children yearly in developing countries.

Breast-feeding also benefits mothers by reducing the risks of breast and ovarian cancer, and helps to stop the bleeding after birth and regain the figure faster!