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Stakeholders seek nutrition education for young mothers

By Tayo oredola
03 February 2016   |   9:28 pm
Nutritionists in the country have called for proper dietary education among mothers, particularly the young ones.
Managing Director, Promasidor, Mr. Olivier Thiry(left); President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Prof. Ngozi Nnam; and Head of Marketing, Promasidor, Festus Tettey recently at the unveiling of cowbell Tina Infant Formula in Lagos.

Managing Director, Promasidor, Mr. Olivier Thiry(left); President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Prof. Ngozi Nnam; and Head of Marketing, Promasidor, Festus Tettey recently at the unveiling of cowbell Tina Infant Formula in Lagos.

Nutritionists in the country have called for proper dietary education among mothers, particularly the young ones.
the experts, who spoke at a symposium organised by promasidor, said that nutrition education was important to break old traditions of feeding babies that are still common till date.

Consultant paediatrician, massey street children’s hospital, dr. abieyuwa emokpae, said one of those traditions is to lure babies to sleep all through the night, citing that many mothers are still in the habit of giving pap to make babies sleep all through the night.but according to emokpae, “at the infant stage, it is not appropriate for babies to sleep all through the night, because they need to feed from time to time.

“in fact, this is dangerous and it can cause the baby to die during sleep because their digestive system is not strong enough to digest such foods,” he said.

President, nutrition society of nigeria (nsn), prof. Ngozi Nnam, stressed that breast milk remains nature’s perfect food for infant adding that nutrition wisdom is vital, especially after the baby is above six month.
Nnam said: “human milk contains hundreds to thousands of distinct bioactive molecules that protect babies against infection and inflammation, and colostrum, which is the first human milk, produced by mothers at birth serves as the first immunisation for babies, because it contains a lot of anti-infective substances.”

Nnam urged mothers to put their infants to breast feed possibly 30 minutes after delivery, because it is the best baby food, and that is why nutritionists advocate for exclusive breast-feeding.

She said: “exclusive breastfeeding is a complete nutritional source for the infant for the first six months of life, as nutrients in breast milk is adequate in quality and quantity to provide all the needs of the infant and for easy digestion, nnam added.

In her presentation titled: ‘the nutrition wisdom of infant feeding choices’, the nsn president said when babies are exclusively breastfed, they hardly pass stool for sometimes one week, because they digest and utilize all the nutrients in the breast milk.

She stressed that breast milk is essential all through the baby’s first year, as most brain cells and connections are formed during this period, and up to 60 per cent of the nutrients are used up by the brain and that is why it is very important to pay attention at this age.

“Inadequate of these nutrients especially iron, iodine, magnesium, vitamin b12, and folate fat leads to insult on the infant’s brain, which reduces iq by 13.5 points leaving this effect permanent and irreversible.”
in regards to the theme, nnam said, nutrition wisdom is important to ensure adequate supply of nutrients to support rapid growth and development of the infant to eliminate malnutrition.

Nutrition wisdom also affords mothers to make informed feeding choices; this protects the infant from developing chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular and obesity among others in adulthood.

In his welcome address, managing director, promasidor, olivier thiry, said that the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, where possible, cannot be over emphasized, but promasidor is introducing a cost effective alternative food supplement to mothers who for a reason or the other cannot breast feed.

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