World Breast Milk Day

August 1st is the World Breast milk Day. According to a number of health experts, there is no substitute for breast milk for an infant.

Neonatal period is a very sensitive period that requires special care. According to a number of health experts, during this period, substitutes such as formula, cannot provide full health for the infant, but as an auxiliary food and, under certain conditions, can replace breast milk. They believe that formula can be used after at least 6 months or one year of lactation when the baby becomes gradually reluctant to breastfeed. It's a big mistake to give formula instead of breast milk from the very beginning of birth.

The general decrease in breastfeeding and widespread use of formula as baby food has triggered concerns in the world societies, especially in developed countries in the post-World War II period. Promoting the natural nutrition of the infant with breast milk and raising public awareness on the unique properties of this milk for the health of the child and mother requires a major and fundamental step. Accordingly, on August 1^st, 1990, World Health Organization in collaboration with UNICEF, in a meeting in the Italian city of Florence, signed a statement for continuation, promotion and supporting of breastfeeding. In the statement, the importance of nutrition of infant with breast milk in the first 6 months of life and its impact on the well-being of child and mother has been emphasized. Therefore, every year, 1 to 7 August is commemorated as World Breastfeeding Week. The theme of 2017 World Breastfeeding Week is “Sustaining Breastfeeding Together”.

Breast milk is a divine blessing which can guarantee the human health and well-being from infancy till adulthood. Breast milk with high level of protective and safety materials is a complete and unique food for meeting the needs of the infant for the first 6 months of life and even after that. By the end of the second year of life it provides a significant part of the needed energy and nutrients. Breastfeeding, which is recommended in the holy Qur’an and hadith, is increasingly endorsed by all valid scientific circles in the world.

Although a few years have passed since the statements such as the Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child have attracted everyone's attention, Islam had manifestly spoken of the rights of the child centuries ago and has special assignments in this regard for parents and those who tend to the needs of the child. The all-Wise God has granted the best and most nutritious food nutrition for child so that the child can be breastfed right after his birth. Regarding breastfeeding of child, God says:

“Mothers shall suckle their children for two full years, —that for such as desire to complete the suckling…”

Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), regarding the importance of breast milk for nutrition of child says: “No milk is better than the mother’s milk for the child”.

Breastfeeding has many benefits for both the baby and the mother. When the mother gives milk to her child, she feels pleasure and satisfaction and, with a high sense of comfort and serenity, hugs her baby to breastfeed. It is the deepest exchange of emotions between mother and child. Breast milk is a perfect food that is always available everywhere for the baby, and its ingredients change with the growth of the baby. This milk is unmatched in terms of digestion, contamination with germs and infections, lack of allergy and other diseases. It also has protein, fat, salts and all kinds of vitamins, and its temperature is suitable for the human body and removes the baby's worry. The child feeds on the very existence of the mother during the nine months stay in the womb and becomes fully attached to the heart pulsation of the mother. If due to the lack of food, insomnia or illness, the child becomes restless only breastfeeding and hearing the rhythmic beating of the mother’s heart can calm down the child. Therefore, the mother's heart beat is the most beautiful and soothing music for the baby. According to psychologists, from a distance of 30 centimeters, the best emotional exchange between the mother and her infant is created, which both calms down the baby and satisfies the mother physically and mentally.

Breastfeeding, in addition to providing the infant’s desirable growth, enhances his mental and psychological growth, increases his IQ and learning power and decreases the emergence of many digestive, respiratory, and allergic diseases, some childhood cancers, dangerous syndrome of sudden death of the baby as well as the chronic ailments of adolescence, such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.

In Islam, enjoying proper nutrition and food is one of the child's indisputable rights. The holy Prophet of Islam (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny) says: "Among the child's rights upon the father is that he should not give him except a pure and good food." Health of the body affects health of the soul, and proper nourishment affects the health of the body. Therefore, consideration of children’s nutrition is indirectly considered as organization of the soul and spirit. Therefore, when UNICEF emphasized the prevention of children’s malnutrition, and the breastfeeding bill was issued to countries to implement and enforce it as their national law, the Islamic Republic of Iran was among the first countries which presented the bill to the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majles). In 1995, a law was approved that stipulates not just the regulation of the import, distribution of formula, auxiliaries and how they are monitored, but also the protection of mothers during breastfeeding with the right to maternity leave, hourly breastfeeding leave, preservation of job security and access to kindergarten.

In support of lactating mothers, maternity leave is now increased from 4 months to 9 months, and mothers, after returning to work, can use at most one and a half hours of leave till the child is 24 months old; and various government organizations are required to provide appropriate place for the mothers to breastfeed their children.

The important point in this regard is that the mother's success in breastfeeding is directly related to the support of her spouse and the child's father. In the current tensions the father should provide a calm and comfortable climate for the mother during lactation. Mothers do not usually believe in using formula and in most cases they are exposed to unwanted conditions and are forced to use it. Comfort and self-confidence are among the factors that increase the mother’s breast milk and encourage her to embark on healthy baby nutrition. Particularly, women who have their first birth are in need of self-confidence to succeed in breastfeeding, and it is the father's duty to help her have self-confidence and play a basic role in the healthy and optimal bringing up of the child.

FK/RM/ME