Breastfeeding is a shared responsibility

This year, for World Breastfeeding Week 2021 (August 1-7), World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) has selected the theme: Protect Breastfeeding: A Shared Responsibility.  The theme this year is aligned with thematic area two of the WBW-SDG 2030 campaign which highlights the links between breastfeeding and survival, health and wellbeing of women, children and nations.
I am a breastfeeding mother and one of the things that have enabled me to breastfeed is the support from the people around me especially my husband and family. I am also  a C-section mother; the healing process here is longer and much more painful. I remember after I gave birth, I could hardly help myself, the anesthesia medicine that I was given had affected my right side and movement. I could not even carry my baby. At that time as it is a norm in Uganda I had to go to my mother and she really did an amazing job with support from my brothers. The support I got from my husband helped me also to take it one day at a time and because of this I was able to breastfeed my baby despite all the pain that I was going through. It is then that I realised it is indeed a shared responsibility.
After all that the three months leave days somehow have a way they end before you even know it. Work mode sets in and because you need that money you have to report back to work. Experts say a baby needs to be exclusively breastfed for at least six months but we all know we only get three months maternity leave. How on earth can mothers ensure that the babies are breastfed for at least six months? It takes us back to the shared responsibility. Our work places also have a major role they play in this.
Uganda, especially public institutions, had agreed to have nursing areas where working mothers are able to breastfeed their babies. There is need for this to be implemented in all working spaces.
Pregnancy and lactation are an especially vulnerable time for working women and their families. Expectant and nursing mothers require special protection to prevent harm to their or their infants’ health, and they need adequate time to give birth, to recover, and to nurse their children. At the same time, they also require protection to ensure that their jobs are not jeopardized because of pregnancy or maternity leave.
As we commemorate this year’s breastfeeding week let us keep in mind the objectives set out by WABA which state that we have to: Inform people about the importance of protecting breastfeeding, anchor breastfeeding support as a vital public health responsibility, engage with individuals and organisations for greater impact, galvanise action on protecting breastfeeding to improve public health. These are indeed what we need to do to ensure that we have a population that treasures breastfeeding and a population that will have breastfed children.
Maternity protection is key to enable breastfeeding and empower parents for a successful implementation of recommended breastfeeding practices. PAHO/WHO recommends that countries must implement and re-enforce the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes at all levels. It is vital to ensure that breastfeeding mothers do not get targeted by the industry, marketing or public health professional who want to jeopardize their breastfeeding by promoting formula feeding.
Linda Asaba, is a breastfeeding mother and Programme Manager Uganda Health Communication Alliance.