Prioritize 1st hour of your child's life

Toyin Saraki tasks mothers, health professionals


Founder of the Well Being Foundation, WBFA, and Wife of the Senate
President, Toyin Saraki has encouraged mothers and healthcare professionals
to prioritise the first hour of a child’s life as it is crucial in the health and
development of the newborn.



According to her, good nutrition in the first 1,000 days from conception to two
years of age is critical to enable all children to live healthier and more
productive lives.

Giving the advice during a sensitisation conference for Medical Directors;
Orientation of Private Health Facilities in Lagos State yesterday on Infant and Young Child
Feeding, IYCF, Practices in Lagos Saraki noted that the World Health
Organisation, WHO, recommends exclusive breastfeeding within the first hour
after birth and until a baby is six months old.
Saraki who is also the Inaugural Global Goodwill Ambassador and International
Confederation of Midwives, ICM, while stating the impact of exclusive
breastfeeding said: “Nutritious complementary foods should be added while
continuing to breastfeed for up to 2 years or beyond. “If 90 percent of
mothers exclusively breastfeed their infants for the first six months of life an
estimated 13 percent of child deaths could be averted.
“If the same proportion of mothers provided adequate and timely
complementary feeding for their infants from six to 24 months, a further six
percent of child deaths could be avoided.”
Continuing, she stated that Medical Directors of hospitals will play key role in
the success of the Alive& Thrive programme in Lagos geared towards saving
lives, prevent illness, ensure healthy growth and development through the
promotion and support of optimal maternal nutrition, breastfeeding and
complementary feeding practices in rural and urban Lagos as well as Kaduna.
She lamented that malnutrition in Lagos alone accounts for more than 50
percent of under five mortality with a rate of timely breastfeeding initiation at
only 28.9 percent.
“A mere 19.7 percent of children under six months in Lagos are breastfed
exclusively and only 10 percent of children aged 6 to 23 months are fed
appropriately. The reality of those statistics is distressing as 47 percent of
children in Lagos under -5 years are stunted while 34 percent are under -
weight, “she added.
In his welcoming address the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide
Idris said the state was committed to providing the necessary support for
nursing mothers hence the six months maternity leave for mothers in their first

two pregnancies. “We encourage the private sectors to ensure the availability of

crèches in organisations with more than 10 women of child bearing age,” he
stated.
Speaking, the Chairman, AGPMPN, Lagos chapter, Dr Tunji Akintade explained
that the Alive & Thrive programme would change the narrative as regards
breastfeeding in Nigeria. According to him, If the programme succeeds, it
would change the behaviours of mothers towards exclusive breastfeeding.