World breastfeeding week is celebrated from 1st August to 7th August every year since 1992 AD. It is organized by the “World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA)” every year. World breastfeeding week is celebrated to bring big changes to the human world by generating awareness regarding the importance of breastfeeding for human beings. Talking about breastfeeding may seem a simple thing, but it has great importance for raising awareness regarding the maternal health and health of the newly born baby.
Importance:
World Breastfeeding Day has a great significance in generating awareness in connection with breastfeeding along with supporting the rights of mothers for breastfeeding. The World Breastfeeding Week of this year, 2021 AD, is celebrating with the theme: “Protect Breastfeeding: A shared responsibility”. Celebrating World Breastfeeding Week is vital for both mother and child since it generates awareness, emphasizes the significance, and reminds responsibility of breastfeeding. In this connection, the importance of breastfeeding for both mother and child is also described briefly.
Importance of Breastfeeding for Child: It is important for a child to grow properly. Breast milk contains various nutrients for the child to grow. With just breastfeeding child mortality rate can drop very low up to 40% shown by research. Breast milk is very necessary for the diet of the child and contains all the vitamins and nutrients necessary for the child to grow and should be fed for at least the first 6 months of the infant’s life. It contains antibiotics for children to fight diseases. It also lowers the risk of getting infections.
Importance of Breastfeeding for Mother: It is very important for mothers too. It helps by reducing the pregnancy weight faster by burning calories. It is very important for mothers to breastfeed because it lowers the risk of getting fatal diseases like breast cancer and ovarian cancer. It also reduces the chances of bone fracture when the mother is older.
Aims of world breastfeeding week:
- Improve the health of babies around the world.
- Improve the health of mothers around the world.
- Encourage breastfeeding.
- Give people knowledge about breastfeeding and its importance.
- Train health care practitioners to provide support to mothers and children.
- Save lives of children.
- Promote maternity care facilities.
Conclusion: Let us all move ahead with the slogan “Protect Breastfeeding: A shared responsibility.” And promote breastfeeding all around the world and save thousands of lives.
Yubil Bhattarai
Grade-10