No Substitute for Breastfeeding

There should be complete ban on all those company's who are producing and promoting Infant milk substitute .We have to protect breastfeeding which is crucial for healthy development of infant's in the country.

The United Nations Children’s Fund kicked off World Breastfeeding Week today by calling for strong leadership to promote a practice that is the most effective and inexpensive way to save a child’s life.less than half of all children under the age of six months benefit from exclusive breastfeeding, despite the many advantages it provides for both children and mothers.World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated annually from 1 to 7 August in more than 170 countries to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. It commemorates the Innocenti Declaration made by UNICEF and the World Health Organization in August 1990 to protect, promote and support breastfeeding. Both UNICEF and WHO recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’s life and continued breastfeeding for two years or beyond. Children who are exclusively breastfed are 14 times more likely to survive the first six months of life than non-breastfed children, UNICEF stated, adding that starting breastfeeding in the first day after birth can reduce the risk of newborn death by up to 45 per cent.

Breastfeeding also supports a child’s ability to learn and helps prevent obesity and chronic diseases later in life. Recent studies in the United States and United Kingdom point to large health care savings resulting from breastfeeding, given that breastfed children fall ill much less often than non-breastfed children.

In China, breastfeeding rate of only 28 per cent, To boost such low rates in the world’s most populous country, UNICEF and the National Centre for Women’s and Children’s Health in May launched a “10m2of Love” campaign to locate, register, certify and publicize breastfeeding rooms to raise awareness and support for breastfeeding.

Only 1 in 5 countries fully implement international guidelines about the marketing of breast-milk substitutes.

Breastfeeding, WHO stressed, is “the best source of nourishment” for infants and young children and one of the most effective ways to ensure child health and survival. People who were breastfed as babies are less likely to be overweight or obese later in life, less prone to diabetes and may perform better in intelligence tests.

However, globally, only an estimated 38 per cent of infants are exclusively breastfed for six months.

source :U.N.N.C.

www.heeals.org