World Breastfeeding Week 2021: The day features the advantages that breastfeeding can bring to both the wellbeing and government assistance of children. The day likewise centres around maternal wellbeing, great nourishment, poverty reduction, and so forth The best wellspring of sustenance for babies and little youngsters is breastfeeding. It is a demonstrated lifesaving methodology that aides in securing kids against different normal youth ailments like looseness of the bowels and pneumonia.
World Breastfeeding Week is commended every year from 1-7 August to support breastfeeding and work on infants' wellbeing all throughout the planet.
Breastfeeding is significant for a kid as it gives the most ideal beginning throughout everyday life. It gives wellbeing healthful and enthusiastic advantages to both mother and youngsters. Likewise, it makes part of an economical food framework. Breastfeeding is a characteristic interaction and isn't in every case simple. Backing to the moms is required both to begin and to support it.
World Breastfeeding Week 2021: Theme
The theme of 2021 is "Protect breastfeeding: a shared responsibility". It emphasis on how breastfeeding contributes to the survival, health and wellbeing of all.
Along with the theme, WHO and UNICEF are focusing on counselling and calling governments to protect and promote women's access to skilled breastfeeding counselling which is an important element for supporting breastfeeding.
Vision
To achieve a world where breastfeeding is the cultural norm, where mothers and families are enabled to feed and care optimally for their infants and young children thus contributing to a just and healthy society.
Goal
To foster a strong and cohesive breastfeeding movement, which will act on the various international instruments to create an enabling environment for mothers, thus contributing to increasing optimal breastfeeding and infant and young child feeding practices.
Breastfeeding Fact sheet (NDHS 2016) Nepal
- Breastfeeding is very common in Nepal with 99% of children ever breastfed.
- More than half (55%) of children are breastfed within the first hour of life.
- Three in ten children who were ever breastfed received a prelactal feed, though this is not recommended.
- WHO recommends that children receive nothing but breastmilk (exclusive breastfeeding) for the first six months of life.
- Two-thirds of children under six months are exclusively breastfed. Children under three breastfeed for an average of 30.5 months and are exclusively breastfed for 4.3 months.
- Complementary foods should be introduced when a child is six months old to reduce the risk of malnutrition.
- In Nepal, 83% of children age 6-8 months are breastfed and receive complementary foods.
Importance of Breastfeeding
- Obesity
- Type 1 diabetes
- Sudden Infant Death syndrome (SIDS)
- Pneumonia and other respiratory infections
- Coughs and colds
- Gastrointestinal illnesses
- Vomiting, Diarrhoea, Constipation
- Urinary tract infections
- Ear infections that can damage hearing
- Meningitis
- Childhood cancers, including leukaemia and lymphoma
- Chhorn's disease, ulcerative colitis
- Celiac disease
- Heart disease and liver disease in adulthood