Breastfeeding key to healthy Brunei society

This is World Breastfeeding Week (August 1 - 7) and in Brunei Darussalam it was launched last Saturday by Health Minister Pehin Orang Kaya Johan Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Hj Adanan at the Health Promotion Centre.

It was noted at the launch that children who have been exclusively breastfed for two years from birth will grow up to possess intelligent minds and become responsible citizens who will be able to help raise the quality of life in the Sultanate.

The World Health Organisation's theme for breastfeeding week this year is "Breastfeeding Just 10 Steps" which recommends having a written breastfeeding policy that is communicated to all health staff, training all staff in this respect and to communicate to all women of its benefits, helping mothers to begin breastfeeding babies from half an hour after birth, giving newborn no other food or drink for the first six months, to have mother and child rooming in the whole day, encouraging breastfeeding on demand, giving no artificial pacifiers, helping foster breastfeeding support groups and referring mothers to them after they leave hospital.

Besides helping provide children with all the natural and compatible ingredients and antibodies they need to grow up intelligent and healthy, close contact and breastfeeding on demand also naturally prevents ovulation and menstruation which means it naturally prevents pregnancy during the period the mother is breastfeeding, and for some months after. Generally, the older the woman the longer the period. This process of natural spacing of children is described more scientifically as natural lactation amenorrhea and infertility.

In the not so distant past, when there was no formula milk on demand, nature's way of spacing children in this way, relative to breastfeeding, helped ensure babies had enough nutrition and mothers did not have too many mouths to feed. So mothers only became pregnant after their babies had been weaned off milk and could feed on other solid and liquid meals. This ensured there was no unnecessary competition for mother's milk and all children had a healthy, competitive start to life.

It was in May 1, 2001 that the WHO first accepted a resolution recommending that infants be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their lives and for breastfeeding to be complemented by safe and nutritious solid and liquid foods for at least the first two years. Moreover, medical evidence shows that breastfed babies have only one-third the risk of suffering respiratory illnesses such as asthma. There is also medical evidence that breastfeeding reduces the risk of mothers contracting breast cancer.

Moreover, this natural spacing of children by about two to three years is seen as being the best for mothers and children as, besides reducing the stress of being overburdened, this spacing is also seen as helping to promote healthier mental and emotional growth of children.