Starting a family implies a strong responsibility. There are many aspects that intervene in this decision, but once it is finalized, it is essential to focus on the health of the future mother and the product. For the same, One of the actions that generates the most benefits is breastfeeding, although unfortunately Mexico does not comply with international recommendations.
Current national panorama
To show the current picture, in our country only 28.6 percent of children under six months are exclusively breastfed. While 43 percent of children under one year old consume infant formula, according to data from UNICEF Mexico and the National Institute of Public Health.
In addition, it is estimated that more than 5,700 infant deaths are registered annually due to inadequate breastfeeding practices and about 1,700 premature deaths in women, reveals information from the document “Digital advertising of breast milk substitutes, food and beverages for children under two years of age in Mexico” prepared by both institutions.
Based on the above, the academic of the UNAM Faculty of Medicine, Aurora Martínez González, highlights that breastfeeding guarantees good nutrition and immune protection for the baby. Besides It decreases the probability that mother and child will have conditions such as obesity, hypertension and cerebrovascular accidents.
“A person who receives his mother’s milk as his first food is programmed for a healthier adult life, reducing diseases that are serious and represent a high cost to public health.”
Breastfeeding helps the mother to face hormonal changes and reduce the possibility of suffering from chronic-degenerative diseases such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, osteoporosis, obesity, hypertension and diabetes.
The Covid-19 pandemic caused a historic setback around the world
The also vice president of the non-profit association APROLAM assured that At the beginning of the health emergency due to COVID-19, there were setbacks due to the resistance so that the newborn was left immediately, skin to skin, with his mother and breastfeeding mother.
Even when sick, the milk can be expressed and provide the child with specific defenses against the disease.
Immune maturity, he added, is reached up to four or five years. Time in which it protects you in this way against diseases such as diarrhea, respiratory ailments, chronic diseases and allergies.
“The strength of this food is such that it allows the baby to grow and reach the required size in the first six months, which is the fastest growing stage of life.”
Barriers that prevent this practice in women
One difficulty is that many mothers work far from home. For this reason, it is encouraged that in work centers there are lactation centers where milk is extracted, stored and, whoever takes care of it, supplies it.
A great challenge is to include breastfeeding as a compulsory subject in the training of personnel related to health; so far it is little or none.
“There are no budgets for this, we have been trying for five years to get the Official Mexican Standard 050 approved for the promotion, protection and support of breastfeeding. At the federal level, a law was introduced three years ago and it is still stuck, only in 12 states has it been approved. Neither the child nor the mother is prioritized.”
Based on all of the above, a clear objective that all doctors must follow is to promote breastfeeding in order to increase the percentages in Mexico. The role it plays is so great that it has come to be considered that it is the first vaccine that a baby should receive during its first months of life.