Wadia Hospital educates new moms on breastfeeding ways

The nurses of Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital, Parel, have created their own version of the viral Marathi song ‘Sonu Tuza Mazyavar Bharosa Nahi Kay’ to encourage new mothers at the hospital to breastfeed. The move is a wrap to the hospital’s World Breastfeeding Week programme. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) report, every year 15 million babies are born prematurely in India.

The nurses have prepared a poster that displays the importance of breastfeeding and its nutritional value. “We had given a small demonstration of various lactation methods to the new mothers. The nurses also sang ‘Aai Stanpan war bharosa nai kai!’(Mothers, don’t you trust breastfeeding),” said a senior doctor.

The doctors said that mother’s milk is important for the child’s survival and health. “Breastfeeding within an hour of birth could prevent 20 per cent of newborn deaths. The infants who are not breastfed are likely to die from pneumonia and diarrhoea,” added the doctor.

She further added that they have 150-bedded Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that looks after 1,100 premature babies every year. “Since most of hospitals do not have wellequipped facilities to look after premature babies, in 2015 more than 1 million babies died,” said Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO, Wadia hospitals. A senior doctor said that the hospital has a milk bank where the milk is stored at 8 degree Celsius for around 100 days. “The milk is being pasteurised at the milk bank,” she said.