Hoshangabad (Madhya Pradesh): The Governmment Home Science PG College organised a virtual conference on Saturday on the occasion of International Breastfeeding Week, which is celebrated from August 1 to 7 every year.
Principal Kamini Jain said the objective of the occasion is to motivate women to breastfeed their newborns at least for first six months.
Many a working mother try and avoid breastfeed their children, especially when in public. The event is aimed at informing the women about their breastfeeding rights and making them understand how important is the breast milk for their children.
A mother’s breast milk increases immunity in the children and it contains cholestrom, she said. The head of the clinical nutrition and dietics department, Rashmi Shrivastava, said they organise events including poster-making, slogan-writing, debate, quiz and other programmes to raise awareness about breastfeeding and to bust the myths about the same.
The event coordinator Reena Malviya told everyone about the history of Breastfeeding Week. She said the event is celebrated simultaneously by UNICEF, WHO and other NGOs.
The theme of the event this year was, ‘Protect Breastfeeding: a shared responsibility’. The assistant director of women and child development department, Nirupama Mathur, said mother’s milk is the first vaccine for a newborn child.
It is helpful in development of both child and the mother after delivery. She gave a presentation about the proper breastfeeding and its importance. She also told about the effect of covid-19 on breastfeeding.
Sandhya Moore, a scietists KVK Harda, told the new mothers about the diet she should take while carrying a baby and after delivery so that she can increase the production of milk in her glands.
She suggested diet like milk, carom seeeds (Ajwain), garlic, fenugreek (Methi) seeds, drumsticks, green vegetables, raisins, almonds and sprouts. She said a woman may consume less but all that she eats should be nutritious.
