World Breastfeeding Week: City doctors call for greater awareness

Bengaluru: Commemorating World Breastfeeding Week, paediatricians and neonatologists in the city are calling for better awareness efforts for families and breastfeeding policies in hospitals.

More crucial is awareness about the colostrum, which is the first milk produced by a young mother after delivery, they note.

The colostrum acts as a natural vaccine for babies within the golden hour, aiding the baby's immune response, preventing infections, improving brain development, and establishing long-term mother-child trust, besides lowering the risk of postpartum depression and breast cancer in mothers.

Dr Ravneet Joshi MD (paediatric), and Consultant - Lactation specialist, Manipal Hospitals explained that the WHO and Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) recommend exclusive breastfeeding for a baby for the first six months after birth. 

"There is no need for formula unless there is a medical condition and the treating doctor signs off on the decision," she said.

Ideally, all hospitals need to have strong breastfeeding policies and lactation counselling for mothers, she added, to help them understand the importance of expressing milk immediately after their baby's birth. "The baby does not require huge amounts of breast milk in the first two days. The colostrum, which is considered liquid gold, is often just a few drops, which is enough for the baby," she said.

Dr Rajath Athreya, senior neonatologist and paediatrician, noted that hospitals can get recognised and accredited for baby friendly hospital initiatives. "If the mother or baby is critical, then their lifesaving procedures take precedence. In most cases, however, we have someone in the operation theatre who ensures that the baby is placed on the mother's chest within the first hour to establish skin-to-skin contact," he said.

Neonatology professor Dr Suman Rao noted that the process remains even for babies that are admitted the neonatal ICU, even if they cannot latch onto the mother or digest the milk. "We help the mother express milk right after birth and collect the drops in a 1 cc/ml syringe to immediately give to the babies in the NICU. They would require it more since they are unwell. In cases where mothers are sick, we manually express it for her and give the drops to the baby," she said.

Mothers are encouraged to visit the NICU as much as they can to establish skin contact and breastfeed their babies, she added.