BENGALURU: According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a staggering 41 million kids across the globe below the age of five are obese. Paediatricians say obesity is more common in babies who are not breastfed exclusively for the first six months.
On the occasion of
World Breastfeeding Week
— observed from August 1 to 7 — paediatricians and lactation experts in the city have expressed concerns about a generation of young toddlers who are obese, diabetic and hypertensive. This year’s theme is Breastfeeding: Foundation of Life.
Dr Aparna Jha, senior consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician at Apollo Cradle in Brookefield, said an estimated three million Indian children aged below five are overweight. “As per WHO data, about 40 per cent of women don’t breastfeed and 60 per cent of such children are obese, both in India and globally,” said Dr N Karthik Nagesh, chairman and head of department of neonatology at Manipal Hospitals, calling the situation alarming.
The reason doctors encourage women to breastfeed is because mother’s milk supplies adequate nutrition to the baby, develops immunity and reduces chances of neonatal deaths. Dr Aruna Savur, paediatrician and lactation counsellor at Motherhood hospitals, explained: “Cow’s milk has more protein and fat, which human babies can’t digest. Hence, it gets accumulated in their bodies, making them obese. Breastfeeding also has non-nutritive effects and facilitates mother-baby bonding. Oxytoxin which is released in the mother passes on to the baby, calming him/her down. Many studies have shown that breastfed babies are healthier than those fed Infant Milk Substitutes (IMF), commonly known as formula milk. Breastfeeding in the first hour (golden hour) after birth reduces the chances of neonatal death by 22 per cent and in the first day after birth by 16 per cent.”
Doctors say factors like ageing and delayed pregnancy do impact milk secretion in urban women after delivery, but what’s more worrisome is that they don’t want to breastfeed. “The possibility of primary lactation failure is rare. The willingness to breastfeed among women in cities and suburbs has reduced. However, it’s a mental block that have less secretion and their babies cry because they’re still hungry and need to be fed the substitutes,” Dr Nagesh added.
He along with other Infact and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) experts of the National Breastfeeding Committee feels the lack of lactation counselling combined with aggressive/illegal marketing of formula milk is increasing the number of babies being fed IMF.
Dr Mallikarjun H B, senior professor in the paediatric department at Ramaiah Medical College and Hospital, and founder secretary of IYCF Chapter Karnataka 2015-20, said, “I can guarantee that most parents don’t know that bottle feeding and sale of IMF products over the counter are banned in India according to the IMF Rules 2003. Regulations are not followed, parents are not informed/educated about the perils of formula feed and companies resort to aggressive marketing to sell these products.”
He added that babies who are not breastfed exclusively for the first six months are at a high risk for diabetes, hypertension, low immunity, ischemic heart diseases, diarrhoea, sudden infant death syndrome, ear infections etc. This also increases healthcare costs and burdens the economy.
54% women breastfeed in K’taka: survey
According to the fourth edition of National Health and Family Survey, 54.2 per cent of women in Karnataka breastfeed exclusively for the first six months; the state has set a target of 65.2 per cent by 2025.