Woman blames non-compliance to exclusive breastfeeding on family elders’ influence

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Samuel Luka, Bauchi

As the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) intensify campaign for mothers to embrace exclusive breastfeeding as well as making effort to secure six months maternity leave for them, there are indications that many are adhering to the practice while some are lagging behind, owing to some cultural beliefs and influence from family elders.

A Nursing mother in Bulkachuwa town, Katagum local government area of Bauchi, Mrs. Hassana Usman said, in all her birth, she has never practice exclusive breastfeeding for six months.

“I have eight children and all of them survived with breast milk and boiled water which I feed them from three to four days after birth”, Mrs Hassana Usman told a team of journalists who were on a field visitation at Bulkachuwa Primary Health Center after concluding a recent Media Dialogue to mark the 2023 World Breastfeeding Week organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Azare town, Katagum local government area of Bauchi state.

Looking so confident in what she was saying, Mrs Usman said she has been made to believe that there is no wrong in complementing breast milk with water for a child below six months as being advocated by health experts.

Mrs Usman who however, admitted that it is good to adhere to calls for exclusive breastfeeding of babies for six months and other advises from health experts, said pressure from family elders has necessitated her action.

“We have elders in our households and we believe they know better than us, so we have no option than to yield to their influence. I use to give boiled water to my babies as complement to the breast milk and weaned them after 18 months”, she said.

According to her, there are many women in her Community who share similar opinion and experience with her despite hearing from the authorities about the health benefits of exclusive breastfeeding to both the child and the mother.

“I do come for antenatal care and immunization at this hospital and they use to tell us about exclusive breastfeeding and other health tips, but I don’t think it is mandatory to adhere to it”, Usman who was at the Bulkachuwa Primary Health Care center on routine immunization said.

“Any time I try to embrace the practice, they say I am punishing the baby by not feeding them enough. They will say breast milk along is not enough for the baby and that I should complement it with water”, Hassana Usman revealed.

Receiving the team of journalists, the official in charge of the Bulkachuwa Primary Health Center, Musa Samaila Madachi, said that they have been sensitizing the women on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding any time they give birth at the hospital or come for antenatal care or immunization.

Madachi who said compliance to exclusive breastfeeding has improved among women in Bulkachuwa, however observed that some women still see it as a new thing.

According to him, as a result of cultural beliefs, once a baby cry, they feel he is thirsty and will rush to give him water instead of feeding the child with breast milk.

He enjoined nursing mothers to practice exclusive breastfeeding for six months to save their babies from child killer diseases, adding that breast milk contains the required quantity needed for the babies.

On his part, the Director Katagum local government Health Authority, Alhaji Jibrin Mohammed Inuwa said any time health officers from the local government goes to service delivery point, they advocated for exclusive breastfeeding of babies up to six months after birth.

“We try to ensure that our personnel sensitize women on the need to embrace exclusive breastfeeding any time they come for antenatal care or immunization and those who delivered at the hospital”, he said.

The Director added that the health authority in the state has been taking proactive measures to ensure that women practice exclusive breastfeeding by involving various Community groups in the awareness creation.

“There’s what we call Community Resource Group, this group is helping us carrying out door to door awareness creation, they sensitize the women, both pregnant and those with babies. They sensitize them on the need for women to go for antenatal care once she becomes pregnant”, he said.

According to him, there is another group called ‘Mama to Mama, who are being sponsored by UNICEF and have received training to carry out awareness creation across households in Katagum local government area.

“We have Mama to Mama across various wards of Katagum, we have 20 in each of the Wards, which makes their number to 400, these women goes round nooks and crannies of the local government to sensitize members of the public”, he said.

The Director further explained that UNICEF has also assisted the local government health authority with Voluntary Community Mobilizers (VCFs), who goes round households to sensitize parents.

He said to ensure success of the campaign, Nutrition Committee have been set up at the state level while that of the local government areas have also been inaugurated.

Mohammed Jibrin Inuwa said that the local government health authority will use baseline assessment to ascertain the level of compliance by nursing mothers before taking any other step to improve upon if need be.