Jayati Godhawat
JWB Blogger
Rajasthan To Set Up Breastfeeding Clinics To Reduce Child Mortality Rate
- JWB Post
- June 21, 2016
Rajasthan Government shall soon establish breastfeeding clinics at 1,965 government delivery centres to train new mothers in breastfeeding and how they can take care of their newborns.
According to the sources, the State Government has approved the installation of 90 such clinics, and the first clinic shall be soon in operation at the mother and child hospital of the RNT Medical College, Udaipur.
This initiative has been taken by the government to prevent malnutrition in children, control infant mortality rate and to rightly educate the parents for better child-care. The services will be provided free-of-cost and along with the breastfeeding guidance, they will also provide training in taking care of the baby. The staff at the clinic will also guide the mothers on the health issues of infants and how to prevent them.
The clinic will be attached to the labour room, and after the delivery, the child and the mother shall be immediately transferred to the breastfeeding clinic and will not be handed to the family members as it’s done immediately. This is to curb the practice of feeding the newborn with the ‘Ghutti.’
“Due to traditional customs and myths, we observe that the newborn is allowed to taste honey or jaggery as Ghutti. It is scientifically proven that first secretion of mother’s breast is the best thing for the infant just after its birth. There shall be no room for superstitions in breastfeeding clinic,” stated an official.
Devendra Agarwal, a consultant to the state government, emphasised on the vitality of the mother’s feed and described it as the ‘golden hour feeding.’
“For an infant, breastfeeding right after birth is very important. We expect to curb the infant mortality rate by 22 percent after the implementation of these clinics. It will safeguard the infant against diarrhea or pneumonia which is the common cause of up to 70 percent of infant mortality before they turn one month,”
He added, “The first secretion of mother contains excessive lactogen in carbohydrates, which is important for the growth of intestines. The quantity of protein in the nectar has also been found in lesser volumes than available in cow milk making it easier for the infant to digest. Feeding cow or buffalo milk could be dangerous for a newborn as it contains high quantity of protein.”
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