Exclusive breast feeding is the most important of all infant feeding options that exist. It involves feeding of infants with ONLY breast milk for the first six months of life and subsequently complementing that with adequate complementary food, while continuing the breast milk for up to the first two years of life. The first aspect of this definition is very important: “feeding an infant with breast milk ONLY for the first six months of life”. This part shall form the basis for our discussion.
It is indisputable that the closer one is to nature, the healthier the person would be. Nature provided all that a child needs in the first six months of life and packaged them in what we call ‘breast milk’. It is so amazing what the breast milk contains and offers a child at this foundational stage in life. Far beyond the production of breast milk, nature also puts in a new born child the instinct to know how to suckle, in what is called ‘sucking reflex’. This reflex helps an infant to initiate breast feeding and subsequently sustain it. It is amazing too, that infants always prefer the thirst of breast milk to any other infant feeds. All of these clearly suggest that man is designed to depend on the breast milk in the first six month of life
It is worthy of note that exclusive breast feeding differs from predominant breast feeding in that the latter adds water to breast milk, whereas in the former, only breast milk is required. There could be administration of medications such as oral rehydration salt solution (ORS) in exclusive breast feeding.
Health Benefits of Exclusive Breast Feeding
The breast milk at various stages of the growth and development of a child contains the nutrients and other biomolecules that make it adequate for that child until the first six months of life. The breast milk of a mother who delivers her child preterm will contain more proteins than that contained in term, mature breast milk. The inability of the breast milk to meet all the nutritional requirements of a child after six months of life is a natural of way of initiating the weaning process.
Breast milk contains macronutrients, micronutrients and adequate amount of water. Breast milk is a complete nutrition for infants as it contains all nutrients required by a child within six months of age, for growth and development. It is very easy to digest, and so infants on exclusive breast milk tend to feed more frequently than others. This is because as the milk is absorbed, the child begins to feel hungry again.
Breast feeding promotes adequate development of jaw bones as the child suckles, thereby exercising the muscles of the jaw. Breast milk is also known to offer some level of protection to certain disease conditions. It decreases the risks of developing such diseases such as allergies (e. g. asthma), diabetes, celiac disease, obesity and so on. It also improves the cognitive functions of the child. Breast feeding not only benefits the child involved, but also benefits the mother and the family as a whole. It reduces cost as the feed is readily available and does not need to be bought. It gives a high level of satisfaction for a mother. It also increases the bond between the mother and the child. It protects the mother from variety of health problems thereby decreasing the risk of developing those diseases. Few of those disease conditions that breast feeding decreases the risk of developing include: breast cancer, depression and osteoporosis. It is also a natural contraception which helps the mother still have sex with the husband without fear of getting pregnant within the time of intensive breast feeding. Intensive breast feeding here means breast feeding the infant consistently not later than two hourly as well as feeding until the hind milk is released which gives the child satisfaction.
The World Health Organization recommends that every facility providing maternity services and care for newborn infants should ensure to follow these 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding:
- Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff
- Train all health care staff in the skills necessary to implement this policy
- Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding
- Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within a half-hour (30 minutes) of birth.
- Show mothers how to breastfeed, and how to maintain lactation even if they should be separated from their infants
- Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk unless medically indicated
- Practice rooming-in (allow mothers and infants to remain together – 24 hours a day)
- Encourage breastfeeding on demand
- Give no artificial teats or pacifiers (also called dummies or soothers) to breastfeeding infants
- Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic
So much of benefits are embedded in exclusive breast feeding option of infant feeding. It is the naturally provided means of feeding infants and equipping them with all that is required for them to become better in handling health as well as psychological challenges they might face later on in life. It should therefore be re-emphasised that exclusive breast feeding remains the best option and should be promoted in our society for better growth and development of the child.