Half of Pinoy newborns don’t get breastfed

Only about half of Filipino newborns are breastfed within the first hour of birth, increasing risk of death, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said yesterday, citing the National Demographic Health Survey of 2013.

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute, meanwhile, said only 28 percent of children aged five months remain exclusively breastfed.

According to UNICEF, some 77 million newborns – or one in two globally – are not breastfed within an hour of birth, depriving them of the essential nutrients, antibodies and skin-to-skin contact with their mother that protect them from disease and death.

“Making babies wait too long for the first critical contact with their mother outside the womb decreases the newborn’s chances of survival, limits milk supply and reduces the chance of exclusive breastfeeding,” said France Bégin, UNICEF senior nutrition adviser.

“If all babies are fed nothing but breastmilk from the moment they are born until they are six months old, over 800,000 lives would be saved every year,” said Bégin.

The longer breastfeeding is delayed, the higher the risk of death in the first month of life.

Delaying breastfeeding by 2-23 hours after birth increases the risk of dying in the first 28 days of life by 40 percent. Delaying it by 24 hours or more increases the risk to 80 percent.

UNICEF data show that progress in getting more newborns breastfed within the first hour of life has been slow over the past 15 years.

Across South Asia, where rates of early breastfeeding initiation tripled in 15 years – from 16 percent in 2000 to 45 percent in 2015 – the increase is far from enough: 21 million newborns still wait too long before they are breastfed.

“Breastfeeding has the single largest potential impact on child mortality of any preventive intervention,” said UNICEF Philippines representative Lotta Sylwander.

Sylwander said breastfeeding is a cornerstone of child survival, health and development – providing the best nutrition and protecting against life-threatening diseases, obesity and noncommunicable diseases.

She said breastfeeding also remains a cornerstone in the strategy to reduce stunting and other forms of malnutrition.

One of the recommended evidence-based actions to improve breastfeeding rates is to support paid maternity leave and to encourage and support women to breastfeed in the workplace.

The Expanded Breastfeeding Act (RA 10028 of 2009) requires the provision of workplace breastfeeding support for working women so that they can continue to breastfeed their children even when they go back to work.

Sylwander said UNICEF continues to work with government and civil society partners to strengthen mechanisms to improve implementation of existing laws and push for the formulation of policies that further protect, support and promote breastfeeding.