Luiz Gilberto Seixas De Andrade, Ambassador of Brazil to Barbados speaking yesterday at the opening of the workshop. Looking on are Henderson Pinder (second from right), Director of Nursing Services of the QEH and Joao Aprigio Guerra de Almeida of Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz).
Health officials are highlighting the importance of all babies being breastfed exclusively for at least the first six months of their lives.
Henderson Pinder, Director of Nursing Services at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, speaking to the media on the sidelines of the start of a five-day workshop entitled ‘Brazil to CARICOM: Right to Human Milk as Safeguard of Life – A Fundamental Right’ at the Brazilian Embassy in Hastings, explained that during those initial months babies should really have no access to water or other additives. He contended that breast milk is a complete food for infants and is packed with antibodies that are necessary to help the babies progress healthy.
“As a country we want to ensure that we have a healthier population and because of the properties of breast milk, what can happen is that a child that has been breastfed for the first six months of life exclusively, has a better chance of life. There are lesser chances of contracting the chronic diseases that we have, diabetes, hypertension; less problems in terms of weight control; they have more resistance to disease, because a lot of the antibodies present in the breast milk are passed on to the child,” he said.
Pinder maintained if mothers in this country can utilise breast milk more, they expect that the country will see firsthand the positive effects of that decades down the road, where the population will be healthier.
He made the point as he noted that in countries where greater use of breast milk has been pursued, they have seen a reduction in morbidity rates in relation to chronic diseases.
“This discussion that we are beginning here today, would see us moving away from formula feeds, or let’s non breast milk products to human milk, and it would serve the country greatly if we could see an uptake in human milk, in that we are not using formula feeds or substitutes in order to feed our infants, but we are giving them what is naturally for a baby which is human milk,” he said.
He further noted, “In Barbados we are signatories to a policy that does indeed speak to breast feeding as an important component of the life for infants… In some countries they have established what we call a breast milk bank and the cooperation here today is for us to start to look at the possibility of exploring the establishment bank in Barbados.”
The director of nursing services explained that through such banks, breast milk is collected and stored under special conditions and given to women to feed to their babies. He indicated that not every mother would require milk from a bank, noting that in most cases women can meet their babies’ needs. The service, he said would be reserved for women who for some reason are unable to breast feed or whose babies may be having a medical problem such as hypoglycaemia or jaundice that could prevent them from breast feeding directly.
“Then you would have something to give them which would be more nutritional, more beneficial and more closer to what the body would produce,” he stated.
While noting that he could not say if and when Barbados would go the route of setting up a milk bank, he did indicate however that such a facility would certainly be welcomed. He made the point while disclosing that some women have already been querying if such facilities existed. Pinder added however, that should Barbados establish such a bank, there will be some cultural challenges that would have to be worked through in order for it to be successful.