Mankind has paid a huge price for moving away from nature and its ways, while animals that are classified as being in an inferior intellectual state with only 5 senses live in harmony with nature, man in his quest for change and a new order has ruined himself and nature. Neglect of breast feeding and replacement of the same with manmade substitutes and the resultant health issues faced by the newborn and the mother are a strong example of man’s moving away from God’s scheme of things and what is divinely ordained. Living beings that give milk to their newborn are known as mammals and man is the most evolved of all mammals, the mother feeding its young ones is the most natural thing and all mammals follow this instinctively resulting in good health for the new born and the mother. Mother’s milk was the only source of food and nutrition for newborns in the olden days but with the advent of the industrial era and modernization this healthy practice began to gradually reduce to very disturbing levels on account of several reasons like, busy working women not having the time to spare for their babies, promotion of mother’s milk substitutes in the market, wrong perceptions on its impact on the mother’s appearance etc. The WHO has declared 1st to 7th August as ‘World breast feeding week’ to create awareness, encourage breast feeding and improve the health of infants the world over.
Healthway Super specialty Hospital, Old Goa with its proud and special place in pediatric care as an institution accredited by the ‘National Neonatology Forum’ (NNF) and well known for its most advanced, well equipped and specialized pediatric care with a motherly touch joined the world in this noble awareness campaign for the good of the newborn and the mother. Members of the institution’s Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and Pediatric ward participated in the proceedings led by Dr Virendra Sadanand Gaonkar one of the most respected names in Pediatric care in the region and Founder Chairman of the institution. The events included poster designing, role play, discussions and talks to effectively communicate and educate the participants on the well researched scientific facts that mother’s milk contains the right hormones, protein, sugar, fat and vitamins and antibodies in the right quantities and hence it is an easily digestible, safe and highly nutritional option and the most ideal food for newborns and infants and how discontinuance of breast feeding and replacement by manmade substitutes could lead to conditions like childhood obesity, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, leukemia and sudden infant death syndrome and how it could lead to premenopausal breast cancer, ovarian cancer, weight gain and type 2 diabetes in the mother. It also emphasized that mother’s milk should be the only food for the first 6 months after which it should be continued along with other foods for 2 years or more.
