Breast feeding known medically as lactation, is a period after child delivery that breast milk is being feed to a new born. African mums before the advent of modern science and technology, feed their new norms with breast milk in addition to giving them pre-warmed water ( Since clean water can be inaccessible and expensive in most part of this continent).
Some mums even give light weight foods such that is mostly proteinous to the new born. This is because, famine and hunger is also being experienced at a very high rate in this part of the world, a mother might not have enough to feed much so that the baby can eat from through breast milk. Note that the woman had to do tiring work which include going to farm as of then.
Even with the coming of Science and Technology and the upgrade in the lifestyle of many African women, many still believe that exclusive breast feeding is not a good practice. You can choose to argues this, but before you do, look at the reasons for this believe;
It is general knowledge that exclusive breast feeding passes on the mother's defense system to her child, and that the child gets protected from infectious diseases due to the immune cells passed on to the child through the placenta, during pregnancy, the umblical cord during delivery and through breast milk.
The immune cells the mother passes on are antibodies which where elicited during the mother's immune system exposure to infectious agents in the environment. These antibodies are passive and do not stay for long, though they stay long enough to protect the child from meager infectious agents while the baby's immune cell forming organs develop fully.
African Mother's accepts the fact that good breastfeeding practices nourishes their baby's body and also protects them from sickness, but they also believe that doing that for 6 months has high tendencies of increasing the rate of child morbidity and mortality. They believe it works best in developed nations and not suitable for Africans.
The factors they consider is that, the baby's immune system is not allowed to fully develop at the rate it should and hence might not be able to interact very well with the environment, when the 6 month exclusive elapses. The fact that many families can barely afford to eat there good square meals a day, is another factor. The mother has to eat enough, in order that she produces enough breast milk that contains nutrients not yet sapped by her body due to many tidious works she has to do.
Another major factor is the lack of good hospital facilities, especially in the rural areas. So the fear of having to stand and watch your baby die because of a health complication resulting from the baby's inability to counter the infectious agents present in the environment. Note that many African mother's especially in recent times, now leave their babies at the mercy of their other children or hired care givers.
Lastly, older African mother's believe that the norm which is normal breastfeeding, worked for them, and their children and as such should work for their grand kids. Feel free to drop your opinion in the comment section, we all are here to learn. Thank you.
