Nigerian Health Minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has said many parents in the country ‘help’ God in the process of feeding their newborns.
He said many nursing mothers (mostly with support of their husbands) add complementary meals to feed their babies.
Exclusive breast feeding requires that a baby be fed only with the breast milk for six months, without adding nothing, including water.
Adewole also said Nigeria deserved no commendation as far as exclusive breastfeeding is concerned.
Speaking at the commemoration of World Breastfeeding Week in Abuja on Thursday August 2, the minister said though Nigeria is a breastfeeding nation, only a quarter of its newborns are exclusively breastfed.
He said 25 per cent exclusive breastfeeding had made Nigeria “a failure” and that the country should target 100 per cent exclusive breastfeeding.
He however revealed that the government was working with the labour unions to ensure six months are given to nursing mothers.
As other countries of the world, Nigeria advocates six months exclusive breastfeeding for newborns, and complementary meals together with breast milk until the child reaches two years.
Adewole said exclusive breastfeeding eliminates stunting, wasting and help in family planning. He explained that mothers who do exclusive breastfeeding don’t get pregnant like others who don’t do and that their babies are healthier with excellent intelligent quotient which makes them excel in schools.
His words: “The occasion of the World Breastfeeding Week is the one that is celebrated worldwide since 1992, and it’s essentially designed to continue our journey of repositioning breastfeeding, which to me is strange because this is a breastfeeding country.
“This is something we’ve done over the years and as the Minister of State (National Planning) it’s one of the oldest practices of humanity. So, you wonder why have we changed? I believe we changed over the years because of prosperity and aggressive campaigns by producers of breastmilk substitutes.
“We thereafter considered it fashionable to give breast milk substitutes rather than give God-given food for our babies. Breast milk is packaged by God for babies, and there can be nothing better than that food produced by God. It is a total package that does not need anything to add.”
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