More than five million newborns in Nigeria are deprived of essential nutrients and antibodies that protect them from disease and death as they are not being exclusively breastfed, UNICEF has said.
The United Nation Agency for Children spoke yesterdayat the event to mark the World Breastfeeding Week.
According to the agemcy, only 25 per cent of the approximate 7 million children born in Nigeria every year, according to the 2014 National Nutrition and Health Survey are exclusively breastfed from 0-6 months of age.
“We know that the pressure to give water to newborns in addition to breast milk is high. But the stomach of a baby is so small it can barely hold 60 millilitres of liquid and when it is filled with water, it leaves no room for breast milk and its life sustaining nutrients,” said Arjan de Wagt, UNICEF Nigeria Chief of Nutrition. “Babies who are fed nothing but breastmilk from the moment they are born until they are six months old grow and develop better. Breast milk gives a child a head start in life.