Breastfeeding corner opened in Dhubri Civil Hospital

A Correspondent

DHUBRI: It is a story of 1,000 days from the day a woman conceives a baby. The first 9 months and 10 days is a crucial period for pregnant women, and after birth, six months exclusive Breastfeeding and thereafter, Breastfeeding the baby for another 18 months along with supplement food - thus completes the story and lays the foundation of the health of children.

A pediatrician opined that proper care of mother and baby during these 1000 days is extremely important as it lays the foundation of the baby’s health. Further, if nutritious food is not provided to pregnant and lactating mothers, they will become anemic. In many cases, due to lack of awareness and ignorance, care of mother and baby from the medical point of view is not possible, resulting in growing malnutrition among the children. Most of the health activists under National Health Mission (NHM) like ASHAs and ANMs are campaigning to improve the situation and to focus more on it, NHM opened the ‘Breastfeeding Corner’ in Dhubri Civil Hospital recently. More such corners will be opened in all the health blocks and public health centers, informed Dhubri district NHM Community Mobilizer, Arif Ahmed. When contacted by this scribe, an experienced pediatrician with over 30 years practice in Dhubri district, Dr. NK Choudhury said that breastfeeding is must for baby and he had advised breastfeeding the baby exclusively up to six months.

“After six months, baby should be given supplement food along with breastfeeding up to two years of age. This has multiple positive health benefits not only for baby but also for mother,” Dr. Choudhury said. He also said that the 1000 days laid the foundation of a healthy child. Breastfeeding, according to recent research, brings down the risk of breast cancer.

Pediatricians also opined that awareness and sensitization on it was the need of the hour and this would save babies from the death within few hours of birth and also improve the data of Dhubri district with regard to Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR). Though breastfeeding rate is 99 percent in Dhubri district, due to lack of campaign on the focus areas, it has not yielded the desired results.