Standup for Women Society, SWS, calls for an increased support and protection for mothers as well as awareness creation for an optimal exclusive breastfeeding practice in Nigeria

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President of SWS,  Barrister  Deborah Ijadele-Adetona said that exclusive breastfeeding is the best source of nourishment for infants and young children, and a proven lifesaving strategy that helps protect children against several common childhood illnesses, such as diarrhea and pneumonia which will in turn impact positively on such children,  their mothers and the society in general.

When we have more of our children on exclusive breastfeeding and less cow milk, we are going to have less of them behaving like animals.

Breastfeeding saves lives. It is one of the cost-effective intervention for the prevention of deaths in children under five years old. 
Colostrum, the first milk a mother produces, is the most potent natural immune system booster known to science; lactating mothers are encouraged to give it to their babies immediately after delivery.
The first 1,000 days of a child’s life, (starting from conception to age 2) is very important for optimal physical, mental and cognitive growth, health and development; breastfeeding is the first and significant step in ensuring the cognitive development of children. 
Hence, SWS joins the world to commemorate World Breastfeeding Week 2021 and called for the implementation of policies that promote, protect and support exclusive breastfeeding and optimal breastfeeding practices, which is key to improved child survival, development, and contributes to Nigeria’s attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The World Breastfeeding Week (1st-7th August 2021) aims to highlight the huge benefits that breastfeeding can bring to both the health and welfare of babies, as well as a wider push for maternal health, focusing on good nutrition, poverty reduction and food security. The annual celebration of the World Breastfeeding Week aims at increasing awareness on the health and wellbeing outcomes of breastfeeding on infants, young children, mothers, families and the society at large.  

The theme of this year’s celebration is ‘Protect Breastfeeding, A Shared Responsibility’ with the slogan for Nigeria, “Join Hands! Support Exclusive Breastfeeding”. 

The occasion also brings the chance to support health care workers and providers, and community workers and volunteers to be trained adequately to provide breastfeeding counselling, correctly enlighten caregivers on child nutrition while delivering psychosocial support to pregnant women, women and adolescent mothers with infants and young children and adolescent girls, thus integrating mental health & psychosocial support into all Infant programs. 

We are advocating for governments at all levels to create enabling environments for lactating mothers by increasing maternity leave, building crèches in workplaces and implementing policies that will support exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months. 

SWS calls on everyone to support and take action to achieve the goals of the week; improving the health of infant children and promoting, protecting, and supporting the rights of women to breastfeed anywhere and at any time; increasing breastfeeding to near-universal levels could save many lives every year, the majority being children under six months.

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