Health workers and medical experts in Benue State, led by the Chief Resident, Department of Paediatrics at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) Makurdi, Dr. Anthony Ajeh have again explained why mothers should breastfeed their new borns exclusively for six months.

Ajeh who spoke to our Correspondent, in his office in Makurdi after the world breastfeeding week celebration led by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said beside containing food for babies in the right mix and nutrition, “it’s like a vaccine that you are giving to the child to prevent him or her from infections and childhood diseases.”

Recall that UNICEF and its partners in Benue state flagged off of the 2025 World Breastfeeding Week at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) Makurdi and the Ultra-modern International Market (Yelwata) IDP camp on August 1, 2025 appealing to relevant stakeholders to put mothers and babies first by prioritizing breastfeeding and building sustainable support systems for every mother and child in Nigeria.

According to the UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Enugu, Juliet Chiluwe, Benue state is yet to meet national goal and global target for breastfeeding as only one of every two newborns representing 47 percent are breastfed within the first hour of life in the state while only one of two children representing 56.7 percent is exclusively breastfed for six months.

After the one week celebration which ended on Thursday, August 7, 2025, a field work conducted by our correspondent at the BSUTH, Federal Medical Center (FMC) Makurdi and Primary Healthcare center, in Kwararafa quarters, Makurdi revealed that most Benue mothers are complying with doctors counsels on exclusive breastfeeding while health workers said they are doing their part in helping mothers initiate breastfeeding to their babies few minutes after birth.

Ajeh noted that “Exclusive breastfeeding have been proven to reduce infection among children and also proven to strengthen the child’s immune system said “it’s like a vaccine that you are giving to the child in early childhood when that child is actually most vulnerable because it has just come, it’s new and doesn’t have experience with the micro organisms in the environment.”

“It increases bonding between the mother and child. It’s is the right kind of feeding in the best mix ever. It fosters good brain development for the young ones, it reduces the cost of formula feeds in an environment where we are looking for every amount of money to go round the issues and family budget.

” I think it’s a win win situation for the babies, the mothers and of course the communities and the country at large.”

Ajeh acknowledged that the mothers they have been seeing were complying with the strategy of exclusive breastfeeding saying “this has come about as a result of a robust engagement with them, counseling them to ensure that they take up this strategy having explained the benefits to them.

Stressing the benefits further, the pediatric expert said with exclusive breastfeeding, “the child is going to have the best of nutrition in the best of mix, something that no formula milk can provide. It benefits the mother and child increasing bonding, helps the community ensure that a lot of resources are not expended on formula feeds.

“When you explain to any mother about this especially that there is a massive prevention of infection with exclusive breastfeeding most mothers take up the opportunity of exclusive breastfeeding as a strategy.”

He explained that the teaching hospital is a baby friendly hospital adding that “once a mother delivers, if it’s a vaginal delivery we put the baby on the chest you clean the breast with warn water and quickly feed the baby and if it’s a primigravida, that is a naive mother who haven’t breastfed in the past, we immediately teach her how to position herself to breastfeed in a comfortable way.

“We teach her the advantages, how is she’s going to feel from the beginning to the end, how she would know that the breast has emptied, that she needs to take the child to the next breast.

“We encourage her that the child needs to take the foremilk and the hind milk to have a complete diet. If it’s an operative delivery, now it is spinal anesthesia that is done and so women are not under sedation for a very long time any longer. So immediately after a woman is back to the ward, she has her baby. So breastfeeding is initiated within 30 minutes after delivery here in the hospital.

The medical personnel who acknowledged to handling certain challenges said “Occasionally you see a mother whose nipples are inverted meaning that the nipples do not protrude out, and kind of recedes inside the breast such that the child cannot latch unto the nipple, we use a breast milk pump. We improvise it and then we suck out the milk, give the child using cup and spoon and it’s still exclusive breastfeeding.

“Occasionally you see a woman who is depressed, she’s not producing enough milk, she has issues with her emotions. In this case we have psychologists around the hospital and we get her unto a sound psychological footing and advise her to take a lot of fluid so she can actually produce enough breast milk for the child.”

He advocated for breastfeeding spaces in establishments to offer mothers the opportunity of taking time off to go breastfeed their children saying “it is a best practice that you should have such a space for mothers to breastfeed. That is operationalized in this teaching hospital,” he said.

A retired Assistant Director of Nursing Services FMC Makurdi and Matron Foundation Hospital Makurdi, Mrs. Felicia Ameh noted that “What UNICEF is talking about now is that when a woman delivers a baby through cesarean section despite the fact that she might be weak, she should be assisted and supported to put the baby to breast after one hour of the delivery. That is what we have been doing.

“Some women also complain that the breast milk is not coming out. The breast milk initially will not come out except the baby suckles the breast. When the baby does that a message will be sent to the brain and milk will start flowing.

“And again the first breast milk has yellowish colour and we call it colostrum. It is very rich and it is the first milk for the baby. It plays an important role in building your baby’s immune system. So we ensure we initiate babies early so that they will benefit from that yellowish milk.”

On her part, Deborah Verve, head of Primary Health Care, Kwararafa in Makurdi said the breastfeeding program is a routine program at her center as they engage pregnant women anytime they come for ante natal educating them on the need to breastfeed their babies exclusively from 0-6 months. “We give them the health talk also after delivery and immunization times. First milk is the best for babies because it makes them to develop very well and protect them from sickness,” she added.

Some of the breastfeeding mothers, Blessings Aande and Serah Dzeremo, who spoke to our correspondent also attested to the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding with Mrs Dzeremo urging other mothers to adopt the strategy and save their monies in the first six months.

“Since I gave birth, I have not spent a Kobo on formula or drugs. My child has not fallen sick for one day, we only come to the hospital for routine immunization. In fact breastfeeding times are my best times with my baby. It helps us bond. As I breastfeed her, I play with her and many times when I smile at her, she smiles back even with the nipples in her mouth. That makes me happy to see she is a happy child,” Dzeremo said.

The sun