Kampala ladies who have children and abandon them to suffer sucking milk off bottles have been warned to start breastfeeding the toddlers.
The development was communicated by Hon. Dr. Sarah Opendi the state minister for health and general duties during a tweetup on Thursday.
“To the young girls who think that their breasts will sag because of breastfeeding, you should remember that God created them for a purpose and that is to edify your newborn child. Please change this attitude” the minister said.
The move comes as Uganda joins the rest of the world to commemorate the world breast feeding week. The week will run until August 8th. According to Dr. Opendi, many toddlers die due to diarrhea caused by poor hygiene of breastfeeding mothers.
“We should note that breastfeeding helps to check on malnutrition of children. We strongly recommend pumping of breast milk by the busy mothers by hygiene must be maintained. The cow milk and baby formula is too strong for young babies and thus we would not recommend new mothers to use it” the minister said.
She added that government needs to fund the advocacy for breastfeeding so that mothers can learn the importance of this for their children. Hon. Opendi further urged health workers to pass on the necessary information to new mothers for effective breastfeeding.
Minister Opendi also warned men against drinking children’s breast milk. This, Opendi says has been confirmed by research that men are actually taking breast milk. “W e want to discourage men from sharing breast milk with their babies. Let these babies enjoy their mothers’ breast milk, men, you have an assortment of foods to choose from.”
Men have since taken to social media to advise the minister to let them enjoy their wives’ breasts and milk, with many claiming they use it to control breast cancer.
