A paediatrician, Dr Lilian Ekwem, has called for stronger family and government support for breastfeeding mothers to improve child health and survival.
Ekwem made the call on Wednesday at the 2026 World Breastfeeding Week celebration organised by the State House Medical Centre, Abuja.
The theme of the celebration was “Breastfeeding for a Sustainable Start in Life: Strengthen What Works.”
Ekwem, Chief Consultant Paediatrician and Rheumatologist, described breast milk as the ideal nutrition for newborns, particularly during their first six months.
“Breast milk is gold and breastfeeding is the ideal and still the standard nutrition for the newborn, especially in the first six months,” she said.
According to the paediatrician, breast milk provides essential nutrients, protects babies from infections, promotes bonding and remains readily available and affordable.
“It helps a baby to bond to the mother, provides the nutrition the baby needs in the right proportion,” Ekwem said.
She added that breast milk was delivered at the right temperature, while breastfeeding remained accessible and cost-effective for families.
Ekwem said breastfeeding should begin within the first hour after birth, noting that early initiation could also reduce mothers’ risk of postpartum bleeding.
“When it’s started at the first hour of life, especially immediately after the baby is delivered, you put the baby to breast.
“You find that it reduces the incidence of postpartum bleeding,” Ekwem said.
The paediatrician said Nigeria still had significant room for improvement, putting the country’s exclusive breastfeeding rate at about 29 per cent.
“Right now, we are doing somewhere around 29 per cent; Nigeria has one of the lowest exclusive breastfeeding rates even in Africa,” she said.
According to the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, babies should be exclusively breastfed for six months.
They recommend continued breastfeeding alongside appropriate complementary foods up to two years of age or beyond.
Ekwem said Nigeria could improve its breastfeeding outcomes by strengthening the systems supporting mothers, stressing that breastfeeding was not solely a maternal responsibility.
“The mother is under stress and she will need the family’s support. She will need her community support,” she said.
She identified poor positioning and latching, cracked nipples and breast engorgement as challenges that could discourage mothers from continuing breastfeeding.
Ekwem urged families to assist breastfeeding mothers with household chores, particularly during the first six weeks following delivery.
She said such assistance would allow mothers to rest, recover and concentrate on establishing successful breastfeeding practices.
The paediatrician also advocated six months’ maternity leave and two weeks’ paternity leave to strengthen family support for breastfeeding mothers.
“The father should support, the family should support and you will see Nigeria will be transformed. In fact, our indices will improve,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Youth Development, Dr Maryam Keshinro, also backed exclusive breastfeeding.
Keshinro was represented at the event by Emmanuel Essein, Director, Youth Health, Mental and Psychosocial Affairs Department.
She said exclusive breastfeeding remained important to raising healthy children and strengthening the country’s future human capital.
“I’m happy that the knowledge has gone around now. And as you can see, we are having more healthy children,” she said.
Keshinro attributed the improvement partly to increased adoption of exclusive breastfeeding among families.
She said proper nutrition from infancy was essential to raising healthy young people capable of contributing meaningfully to national development.
“One of the early ways in which we can ensure that we have young men and women that can take over our nation,” she said.
She urged parents to embrace exclusive breastfeeding, noting that breastfed children tended to fall sick less frequently.
“Those of us that adopted it, one of the things it does is that your children get sick less often.
“You go to the hospital less and you see that the children are agile, they are strong,” Keshinro said.
The Coordinator, State House Clinic Breastfeeding Week, Rakiya Ahmed, advocated stronger workplace support.
Ahmed, represented by Taiwo Thompson-Olatigbe, a nurse on duty at the State House Medical Centre, said mothers needed support after returning to work.
She called for breastfeeding breaks and suitable spaces where mothers could breastfeed, express and safely store breast milk.
“Breastfeeding breaks are not privileges. They are practical support systems that help mothers continue breastfeeding while remaining productive members of the workforce,” Ahmed said.
She said families, colleagues, supervisors, healthcare institutions and communities all had responsibilities towards breastfeeding mothers.
Ahmed urged employers and policymakers to strengthen policies protecting breastfeeding mothers and enabling them to combine work with infant feeding.
Meanwhile, Dr Shareefa Hassan, Coordinator, ENT, State House Medical Centre, urged mothers to seek medical attention when babies developed ear discharge.
Hassan said mothers should particularly seek medical attention when discharge occurred during or after breastfeeding.
She explained that breast milk could sometimes enter the Eustachian tube when babies were breastfed while lying completely flat.
“But the caveat is, even if it’s breast milk, it shouldn’t come out,” Hassan said.
According to Hassan, ear discharge could indicate a perforated eardrum requiring prompt medical assessment.
“When it comes out, it means one thing. There is a perforation. It means that drum is not intact,” she said.
She advised mothers against breastfeeding babies completely flat, recommending that babies’ heads should be slightly elevated during breastfeeding.
Hassan urged parents to take babies to hospital whenever ear discharge was noticed, regardless of whether they suspected breast milk.
The celebration featured presentations of gifts to mothers whose children performed well during the screening exercise.
Fathers who attended and supported their wives during breastfeeding were also recognised with gifts at the event.
