From Osakhare Erese, Asaba
A consultant pediatrician expert, Professor Charles Eregie has identified increasing malnutrition as major cause of frequent under-5 deaths in the country.
Professor Eregie of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) who spoke to journalists yesterday in Asaba at a 2 – day advocacy and sensitization meeting on the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk substitutes and Related Products 2017, explained that newborns should be exclusively breastfed from zero to six months, afterwards with complementary food.
He added that breastfeeding is expected to continue for the next 36 months, and emphasized that the only and best container for newborn feeding had remained human breastfeeding to avoid any form of contamination associated with feeding bottles and teats.
While saying that feeding bottles and breast milk substitute were baby killers, Professor Eregie disclosed that both play host to certain organisms that are infectious to the health of the child, and most often cannot be seen with bare eyes.
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