FRESH 4RM GIM

 In this Sunday, April 13, 2014 file photo, a health official administers a polio vaccine to a child in Kawo Kano, Nigeria. Nigeria has reported the first two cases of polio after more than two years, in an area newly liberated from Islamic extremists who attacked polio vaccinators in the past, the government and the World Health Organization said Thursday. Aug. 11, 2016 (AP Photo/ Sunday Alamba, File) They were on the verge of eradicating it completely The diagnosis of a young boy and girl paralysed with polio has sparked an emergency mass vaccination campaign in Nigeria. Having celebrated its first full year free of the disease in 2015, the country looked set to be polio free by 2017, along with the rest of Africa. Health officials are now busy planning their next steps to alleviate the effects of what Michel Zaffran, director of polio eradication for the World Health Organization (WHO), said in a conference call was a “reminder to all of us to reinforce the fact that we cannot...

  Nursing mothers who adopt exclusive breastfeeding of their children, at least for the first six months of life stand a chance to be protected against Breast Cancer and Cancer of the uterus. This was disclosed by the UNICEF, Kaduna Field Office in Kaduna Tuesday. Speaking at a press conference to commemorate 2016 World Breastfeeding Day, Chief of Kaduna UNICEF Field Office, Utpal Moitra said, breastfeedingwithin 30 minutes of childbirth equally saves mothers from maternal death. He said, the 2016 World Breastfeeding Week was targeted at creating awareness on the relationship between breastfeeding and infant and young child feeding as a key component to sustainable development goals. According to him, “Initiation of breastfeeding within 30 minutes after birth saves mothers from the risk of postpartum heamorrage and maternal death and exclusive breastfeeding on demand in the first six months of life without water or any other food starts every baby on healthy path in life, ...

‘Lack of commitment on the part of health workers to promote breast-feeding, and myths and conceptions about it are the main hindrances’ Last week, an anaesthetist mother consulted a lactation expert on how to initiate re-lactation for her two-month-old baby that had not been breastfed at all. The baby would vomit frequently and suffered from diarrhoea. The mother was finding it difficult to handle the baby. “The baby got used to the readymade baby milk that it was given since birth. Ideally, re-lactation can be tried within two to three weeks after birth. As she had not breastfed the baby at all for two months, re-lactation could not be initiated,” says Asha Benekapa, Director of Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health, who counselled the mother to keep trying. Pointing out that a baby should be put to the breast within the first hour of birth, Dr. Benekapa says it is essential to exclusively breastfeed an infant for the first six months and after that in addition to home made food t...

Filipino mothers have bared their chests in an event to promote and raise awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding. Around 500 breastfeeding mothers attended the 'Hakab Na! 2016' event in Pasig City, east of Manila, on Saturday. The fourth annual event of 'Hakab', which means to cling tightly to the body, was organised by non-government organisation Breastfeeding Pinays. Mothers proudly breastfed their children while holding up signs such as 'breast is best', 'new generation mums love breastfeeding' and 'breastfeeding is nation building'. One mother said she was proud to have breastfed her daughter for more than three years. The event is being held in celebration of the Philippine's National Breastfeeding Awareness month held in August. Breastfeeding is protected by various laws in the Philippines, which grants mothers the right to breastfeed in public and taking breastfeeding breaks at work. While UNICEF and th...

Mothers-to-be are often told about the benefits of breastfeeding their newborns, but no one really talks about what women can expect doing it for the first time. However, celebrity mums are now speaking out as part of a new campaign to debunk the myths and create realistic expectations. Claire Sweeney, Giovanna Fletcher and Izzy Judd are just some of the women stepping forward for the #counto10 initiative. Giovanna Fletcher, pictured with the couple's second son Buddy Bob, said: 'I wish I'd have known that it would take time and patience to get it right. It took eight weeks for me to stop having to squeeze my butt cheeks together every time my son latched on' Mother-of-two Giovanna, an author who is married to McFly frontman Tom, admits the pain for her was so severe she had to clench her butt cheeks together every time her son latched on It was launched by breastfeeding brand Medela, and aims to alleviate feelings of inadequacy associated with breastfeeding. From clen...

Dr Efena Efetie, Chief Consultant, Obstetrician and Gynecologist at the National Hospital, Abuja, has allayed fears that exclusive breastfeeding could lead to breast sag. Efetie said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, in Abuja, as the world commemorates the 2016 World Breast Feeding Week. He said the perception was erroneous as most nursing mothers were misled by the notion, thereby; denying their children the much needed exclusive breastfeeding. According to Efetie, the main factor for floppiness of the breast is due to lack of support with a firm brassier. "The use of firm brassieres during breastfeeding and after weaning can help turn back the breast. "After breastfeeding a child, the breast can never be the same as it was before conception, the firmness can, however, be maintained with proper care," he said. He said, "The dragging down feeling", could be as a result of most nursing mothers' consistent tying of w...

…says Exclusive breastfeeding nourishes, reduces risk of newborn deaths The United Nation Agency for Children (UNICEF) has said that more than five million newborns in Nigeria are deprived of essential nutrients and antibodies that protect them from disease and death as they are not being exclusively breastfed. The united Nation Agency for Children made the disclosure yesterday on the occasion to marks World Breastfeeding Week. According to the agemcy, only 25 per cent of the approximate 7 million children born in Nigeria every year, according to the 2014 National Nutrition and Health Survey are exclusively breastfed from 0-6 months of age. “We know that the pressure to give water to newborns in addition to breast milk is high. But the stomach of a baby is so small it can barely hold 60 millilitres of liquid and when it is filled with water, it leaves no room for breast milk and its life sustaining nutrients,” said Arjan de Wagt, UNICEF Nigeria Chief of Nutrition. “Babies who are fed ...

Premature babies who predominantly receive their nutrition from breastfeeding have higher IQs in later life, than those who do not Premature babies which are breastfed during their first month have higher IQs later in life, research has suggested. The infants have been found to have larger volumes of certain brain regions at term equivalent and have better IQs, academic achievement, working memory and motor function. Research, published in The Journal of Paediatrics, followed 180 premature infants from birth until they turned seven. They identified babies which had received breast milk as more than 50 per cent of their nutritional intake from birth to 28 days of life. This information was subsequently cross referenced with data related to regional brain volumes measured by MRI scans at each baby’s term equivalent age and again at seven years old. They conducted further analysis on cognitive capabilities, including IQ, reading, maths, attention, working memory, language and visual perc...

It is common knowledge that breastfeeding a baby is good for his or her health, as the breast milk is considered a superfood by experts. Experts say that in the first hours and days of her baby’s life, the mother produces milk called colostrum, which is the most potent natural immune system booster known to science. The Save the Children research for this report estimates that 830,000 newborn deaths could be prevented if every infant were given breast milk in the first hour of life. Breastfeeding gives an infant significant protection against pneumonia and diarrhoea, which are two major causes of deaths of children in poor countries. Physicians say if we can ensure that every infant is given breast milk immediately after birth and is fed only breast milk for the first six months, we can greatly increase the chance that babies will survive and go on to fulfil their potential. Indeed, experts at the Save the Children, a United Kingdom-based charity, note that around one in eight of the...

YOU can even conceive with your clothes on. GETTY ZERO PENETRATION: You can still get knocked up without having intercourse Technically it’s possible to get pregnant without having sex, even if you’re a virgin. If you’re not planning on having a baby any time soon, it’s important to know what kind of sexual behaviour might put you at risk of getting knocked up. Basically it’s possible to get pregnant if semen comes into contact with your vagina at any point.