Prof Wale Oke, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH has called on men to stop competing with their babies to suck the wives’ breast.
Oke urged his fellow men to allow their babies to enjoy their natural meal.
He spoke a few months ago at the World Breastfeeding Week (WBW). The programme was organised by LASUTH Community Health Department in conjunction with the hospital’s Pediatrics.
According to him, the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding were many.
He said: “When a mother breastfeeds her baby, it creates bond between them. It is also a natural family mechanism. Breast-feeding mothers do not have bone diseases, breast and ovarian cancers”.
Oke said the state had created an enabling environment for mothers with its policies to work and still feed their babies.
“Working and breastfeeding can go together if mothers try because it is necessary to have healthy babies,” he said.
On her part, First Lady of Lagos State, Wife of Lagos State Governor, Mrs Bolanle Ambode urged mothers to breastfeed their babies exclusively for six months so that they can be healthy.
This, according to her, would prevent babies from coming down with childhood diseases, such as cough, diarrhea and catarrh, among others.
Mrs Ambode, represented by the Permanent Secretary of the state’s Civil Service Pension Office, Mrs Ademola Olabowale, said medical science had made it known that breast supplied basic nutrients to newborns, adding that the breast milk remained the most important protein for babies’ growth.
“The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months, and mixed breastfeeding up to two years,” she said.
Breast milk, she said, usually helps to build the immunity for the newborns, saying it would protect them from childhood killer diseases. (Daily Post)