ANYONE who has been around a five-year-old can attest to the reserves of energy, intelligence and stamina demanded to keep up with the tot. Kids are pure forces of nature.
Thus, it is a shock to learn that millions of children around the world do not reach the age of five. The deaths are needless because the causes—malnutrition, pneumonia, diarrhea and neonatal infections—can be prevented by giving infants only breast milk for the first six months of their life.
This Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to cut mortality rates of children under five years old by two-thirds from 1990 to 2015 has been adopted by the Philippines.
How Cebu City is achieving this MDG target through exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is the subject of the two-part special report series published by Sun.Star Cebu last May 20-21.
Winning allies
Written by Mayette Q. Tabada and Cherry Ann T. Lim, who also edited the series, the special reports, “Breast wars: Life saving with breastfeeding,” was timed for May, the month honoring mothers.
According to “Cry for help,” published last May 20, 90 percent of Filipino infants who died under six months old were those who were not breastfed.
This finding of the 2011 MDG Achievement Fund Mid-term Evaluation Report emphasizes the importance of breastfeeding to prevent the infant deaths.
Aside from the proven virtues of breast milk for mother and child, the resource is free and limitless. Logically, it should be easy to promote EBF among pregnant and lactating mothers, given the spiraling costs of living.
According to “Hidden teens, freebies and cracking the whip,” EBF had to be “re-branded” through the “Breastfeeding Tama, Sapat, EKsklusibo” (BF TSEK) project that taps barangay health workers (BHWs) acting as peer counselors to reach the most vulnerable mothers in sitios.
The May 20 special report showed that Cebu City, recognized as one of the breastfeeding champions in the country, must assert the education of mothers, as well as partners, spouses and grandparents, to counteract the “confusing messages” pushed by formula milk companies, traditional and modern stereotypes that breast milk may not be what’s best for babies.
The BF TSEK peer counselors are crucial also for reaching out to teen mothers. Based on the anecdotal testimonies of health workers from six Cebu City health centers, out-of-school youths and in-school coeds who become mothers are more likely to substitute the bottle for the breast, persuaded by media stereotypes of women as objects of sexual fantasy.
In “Slaying myths,” published also on May 20, the breastfeeding campaign spearheaded by the Department of Health (DOH) and local governments’ health departments addresses deeply entrenched myths that still prevent some mothers and caregivers from giving breast milk exclusively for the first six months and sustaining breasfeeding after the sixth month.
Countering myths
In the second part of the series, “Honey, money talks,” the May 21 special report underscores that breastfeeding advocates also target spouses, partners and mothers-in-law who are crucial for deciding if a mother will breastfeed, especially after the newborn is brought home or the mother returns to work outside the home.
Involving men in responsible parenting and spousal support is a challenge that requires time and sensitivity to combat cultural conditioning.
Yet, the implementation of laws institutionalizing support for breastfeeding working women and breastfeeding in public are attainable. This demands that DOH, local governments and entities, such as companies and chambers of commerce and industry, coordinate to iron out the process and steps to support breastfeeding at work and in public.
“No martial law on BF,” published on May 21, emphasizes that the breastfeeding advocacy must stop short of violating the rights of women who opt not to breastfeed.
Medical conditions exempt some women from nursing. Education, not coercion, is the only strategy for persuading women about the benefits of breastfeeding.
As concluded in “The mothers grim,” obstacles to breastfeeding should be tackled and compromises, like BF breaks and lactation rooms, instituted to follow the World Health Organization’s prescription of giving the breast to ensure that more children live beyond the age of five.