Mothers should be made aware of the importance of breastfeeding, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja has said.
Flagging off a Walkathon and awareness event organised on the occasion of World Breastfeeding Week by the city branch of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) here on Friday, Ms. Shylaja said that just as breastfeeding, ensuring that the child was fully immunised for age was also important for the health of children. Deaths due to diseases such as diphtheria were fully preventable through immunisation, she said.
Immunisation
K.E. Elizabeth, State president of IAP, said it was a disgrace that a literate State like Kerala was going back from its achievements in maternal and child care and falling below 80 per cent when it came to full immunisation coverage.
“Breastfeeding is important to develop immunity in children and to improve their emotional quotient. Though early initiation of breastfeeding (within an hour of birth) is extremely important for the health of newborns, Kerala has been falling behind on that count because of the increasing number of Caesarean section deliveries in the State,” Dr. Elizabeth said.
Early initiation
With almost 50-60 per cent deliveries going the C-section route in many hospitals in the public and private sector, early initiation of breastfeeding was not happening in the case of babies born that way.
Though IAP recommends exclusive breastfeeding of babies for the first six months, it was not happening as many working mothers had to go back to work early.
One of the important reasons why breastfeeding practices were lagging was because there were no proper restrooms or child care rooms in any public places where mothers could feed the babies, Dr. Elizabeth said.
The Walkathon was held from Museum till the Martyrs’ Column at Palayam.
