By Tina George, Minna
ASHENEWS reports that Mrs. Fatima Umar Bago, wife of Niger state governor, has crowned a four-month-old I Fatima Abdulkarim as the best breastfed baby in Niger state.
Abdulkarim was declared winner after competing with 10 other babies in a breastfeeding competition organized by the Niger State Ministry of Health to commemorate the 2023 World Breastfeeding Week.
The baby got 32.5 of the 36 points to beat 10 other babies who participated in the competition.
Baby Salihu Ibrahim emerged second while Baby Musa Yusuf emerged third in the competition.
Giving the criteria used in selecting the winner, the Niger state chairperson of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Anna Simon said, “the criteria include age as all the babies in the competition were within the age range of four months, weight, immunization status, state of hair, eyes and palm and the alertness of the babies.”
Crowing the baby as the winner, Mrs. Bago applauded the initiative, saying that it would encourage women to breastfeed their children and improve exclusive breastfeeding in the state.
She said that breastfeeding would reduce the burden of malnutrition and child-killer diseases calling for the government and employers of labor to make workplaces breastfeeding-friendly in terms of infrastructure and policy drive.
Bago said she would begin to advocate for the implementation of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby’s life, continued breastfeeding with appropriate complementary food for up to two years and beyond, and extension of maternity leave from three months to six months.
She then stressed that infant formula is not equivalent to breast milk adding that women should not be embarrassed about breastfeeding in public places.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Mohammed Gana urged that academic pursuit or employment should not intervene with women exclusively breastfeeding their babies, adding that it would save them from malnutrition and other child-killer diseases.
