Memoirs of a Nigerian Mum; breastfeeding

A breastfeeding mum is a common sight in Nigeria. In fact hardly would your baby start crying than people around you say things like "ah, ah, breast feed that child na". Stories abound of women who were handed over to the police for refusing to breastfeed. A crying baby and a mum unwilling to breastfeed raises eyebrows as to whether the child wasn't kidnapped.

When I became pregnant, I naively expected breastfeeding to only involve sitting down and putting the baby to my breast. I didn't envisage the sore nipples, the engorged and painful breasts, the night feeds and even the feeds during the day when I'd rather be sleeping or doing something else. I also didn't envisage the times my baby would rather play than suckle my breasts.

I had read and learnt a lot about exclusive breastfeeding by the time my baby was due for delivery that I made up my mind to practice exclusive breastfeeding. Shortly after he was born I put him to my breasts and worried like most mums do if the yellowish fluid coming out of my breasts was enough. My nutritionist sister and the dietitian in the hospital assured me of that and encouraged me to put the baby frequently to my breasts as that would help the more mature milk to come in faster.By the second day of breast feeding, I cringed whenever I was to put my baby to my breasts. My breasts had become so sore, painful and cracked. I was later to learn that I wasn't latching the baby on correctly.

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Breastfeeding was moving smoothly till sometime around my baby's fifth month when he would easily get distracted and I had to go to quiet places to breastfeed him. I had more episodes of painfully engorged breasts at this time than any other period. My breasts always seemed to leak milk. Whoever discovered breast pads deserves an award.

Then came the seventh month and my baby completely refused to breastfeed. I almost gave up on trying. He would only breastfeed without a fight when he was feeling sleepy. I held on to those times and ensured I breastfed him then. That episode lasted for about two weeks. Suffice it to say he was already eating other meals by then. He repeated it sometime around his eleventh month.


My baby is 13 months old now and still breastfeeding with no end in sight. Our target is age two.

Colostrum; baby's first vaccine

Colostrum is the first milk produced by the mammary glands. The World Health Organization describes it as "the perfect food for newborns" . In humans, it is produced from about the fourth month of pregnancy. It's colour could be anything from clear fluid to yellow  and provides all the nutrients a child needs the few days before breast milk comes in. It is also known to contain many immunoglobulins and antibodies that protect a baby from infections hence some people refer to it as "a baby's first vaccine " . Colostrum also has a laxative effect which helps newborns pass out that tar-like poo called 'meconium'.

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Compared to more matured human breast milk, colostrum is said to have a higher protein content and lower sugar and fat contents; exactly as needed by newborns. Experts suggest that the breasts produce enough colostrum to nourish a newborn baby till the more mature breast milk comes in after a few days; they also suggest that babies be introduced to the breasts within the first hour of life which they say has several advantages including stimulating milk production. The more your baby suckles, the faster your milk comes in. This is because the activity of  prolactin (the hormone which causes milk production) increases with frequent breastfeeding .

 A newborn's stomach capacity is said to be about (5ml) one teaspoonful and thus easily satiated by colostrum; this capacity increases to above 30ml by the fifth day during which the mum's milk would have "come in". Colostrum gives way to the more mature breast milk after about 2-4 days post delivery   It is therefore more important to frequently make newborns suckle the breasts than make each  session last long. It is best to put the newborn to the breast at least 8-12 times everyday.

Antibiotics Abuse, Resistance and the threat of a post-antibiotics era

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You have cough or sore throat you take Septrin; having running stomach or going to a place whose food you aren't so sure of you take Flagyl; having slight or persistent headache you take Amoxicillin; you give your new born baby Ampiclox drops to "flush" all infections the baby could have gotten from you; Your doctor prescribes malaria drugs as well as antibiotics after he sent you for malaria test alone to which you tested positive. These among many others are the ways we abuse antibiotics in our part of the world.  What makes matters so terrible is the ease with which we can source antibiotics in every drug shop around. It is not only wrong to self-prescribe antibiotics it also does not always help our case.

Sometimes the cough or cold one is self-treating with antibiotics is actually caused by a virus, thus antibiotics would have no effect.

Poultry and fish farmers also indiscriminately use antibiotics for varied reasons. Even our medical practitioners are guilty. They tend to prescribe antibiotics at almost every visit to the hospital; medical test or none. Our over-exposure to antibiotics has made microorganisms resistant to them.

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When you misuse antibiotics, some microorganisms toughen, learn to strive, thrive and multiply even in the presence of the antibiotics; then they can be said to be resistant to that antibiotic.  Antibiotics resistance is the reason why drugs like Penicillin, Ampiclox and Tetracyclin hardly are effective these days. It is part of the reasons infections hardly get treated these days, often leading to both human and economic losses.

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Antibiotics resistance has been described as a pressing public health problem world over. There seems to be a prevalence of organisms resistant to the current antibiotics.  Even  the  World Health Organization (WHO), said "we are gradually getting to a post-antibiotics era when minor infections and injuries  will once again start to kill". It has also been estimated that "one in four deaths in Nigeria will be attributable to antibiotics resistance by 2050", and that "resistant microorganisms will kill more than cancer by 2050". For those who know what these imply, they are very scary. To worsen the already bad situation is the case of fake and substandard drugs in the market.


We do not always need to take antibiotics.

Solution: take antibiotics only when prescribed and as prescribed by a qualified and "informed" medical practitioner , do not share or transfer medications and do not take left-overs.
Health practitioners should avoid indiscriminate antibiotics prescriptions. Tests should be conducted and the actual cause of infection determined before antibiotics is prescribed. Nevertheless, your doctor can use his/her discretion to prescribe drugs pending when your test result is ready.
Government and drug regulatory agencies should tighten the laws surrounding antibiotics prescription, availability and ease of purchase. One should not be able to walk into any drug shop and buy antibiotics  without a doctor's prescription.

 We need to be aware of what we could be causing or exacerbating when we indiscriminately take antibiotics. Antibiotics save lives. Let us not allow its indiscriminate use lead to loss of lives. I dread the post-antibiotics era. I dread the Superbug. You should too.

Therefore let us all say no to antibiotics  abuse and all forms of drug abuse.

Memoirs of a Nigerian Mum; Acid reflux

Motherhood is a challenging task filled with emotional highs and lows. It could get confusing sometimes. At points when you do not know what to do you find out there are myriads of advice which are often conflicting and leaves you confused. If you are Internet savvy you could try searching the challenging issue on the internet ; this could leave you even more confused. If it is a health-related issue, the best person to consult is your medical practitioner.

That said, I would love to share a then-scary experience I had. As a first-time mum, there were too many things I did not know and was wary of picking up advice easily. I cross-checked time and again before taking an advice especially when it had to to with my baby. My mum was (and is still) such a solid rock. She was always my first port of call. When she wasn't sure of the solution she always told me. I have never had any reason to doubt her solutions.

My baby was somewhere between one to four weeks old then; I had just breastfed and put him back to sleep when he cried out. I rushed to him and noticed he was gasping for breath, arching his back and foaming at the mouth. I panicked. I carried him in my arms, woke his dad up and we tried all we could, from rocking to trying to breastfeed, to praying and in fact everything we could think of. That was probably the longest one or two minutes of our lives as parents. I later found out our baby had what is called "acid reflux". Because I was feeling sleepy I didn't bother burping him  after breast feeding and I put him back to sleep, on his back. The air he swallowed during breastfeeding, the breast milk and his stomach acid refluxed back up towards his mouth leading to what I saw. Holding him upright helped ease the discomfort. I learnt and put into practice the following which ensured my baby never experienced such again.

(1) I made sure I burped him after each feed by keeping him upright with his head on my chest or on my shoulders.

(2) When it was almost impossible to burp him, like after those midnight feeds when I could barely keep my eyes open I lay him down on his left side; that ensures the stomach is positioned in such a way to keep food down as the inlet is higher than the outlet. Considering how young he was, I placed a folded wrapper at his back to hold him in that position.

(3) I cut off milk and other dairy products as well as gas-producing foods like beans and cabbage from my diet. This was largely because I noticed he had so much infant gas pain each time I ate food containing the  aforementioned.

My baby never had that experience again.

Memoirs of an Nigerian Mum : Jedi Jedi, Nra, Ela.

Many Nigerian mums must have heard the terms jedi jedi, nra , ela or nla and can describe the 'treaments' for it.  Search as much as your internet savvy self can, there are only few reliable literature about that condition on the internet. I hope my experience gets to inform some mums about this very popular baby ailment in Nigeria.

My baby was few weeks old when i noticed this inflammed area around his neck, bum and the sides of his nose. Like most first time mums I was concerned. Visiting mums will notice it and scream. some called it jedi jedi, others said it was nra, while some called it ela. I released they were just different  names for the same condition. What scared me most was the treatment regimen they prescribed, from some sort of flower, to leaves, root, hydro-cortisone creams and even antibiotics (to kill the ones inside, they said). The treatment prescribed scared me more than the apparently painless condition. Some told me it would enter his intestines and make him pass greenish poo.

A baby's inflamed neck

I did a little research which included consulting a pediatrician friend of my hubby . I simply decided to give baby about one diaper free hour daily during which I laid him bare-butted on a mackintosh spread on either his cot or my bed and also apply a generous amount of petroleum jelly (vaseline) on his butt when changing his diaper. Within two weeks the fire-like coloration on his buttocks was gone.

The one on his neck took a little while to clear. My baby was quite chubby and drooled a considerable lot. This, I believe contributed to the neck case. I simply applied petroleum jelly frequently to keep the place greased. I did not notice when it cleared just like the one on his nose. I also did not avoid any foods as a result .

So when I hear or see people give herbs and all what not to very tender babies, I feel sad  Reading articles like This as well as talking to a pediatrician strengthened my resolve to handle things the way I did.

 I share my experience so other mums will learn and also relax when they see such issues. We often give medications unnecessarily to very tender babies. If in doubt in any issue concerning your child's health please contact a pediatrician. A second or even third pediatrician's opinion may not hurt. Getting advice from other mums despite how well-meaning can actually not always be of help.

I pray our children grow up to be strong and healthy

side view of the so called jedi jedi in a baby's neck

Suggested posts: A child's first 1000 days
                            Maternal mortality in Nigeria
                           Steps to take in protecting your girl child from sexual abuse

7 myths surrounding nutrition we need to discard

March was a month most nutrition advocates marched 4 nutrition by promoting targeted actions and investments to improve nutrition for mothers and children especially during a child's first 1000 days. Read this for more on a child's first 1000 days.

Though March is over, we at The Informed Mum  would keep marching on till every child in Nigeria and the world at large gets a good chance to thrive.

Nutrition is a core element of health and development with long and short-term benefits for both the child, his parents, community and nation . We live in a society where many myths thrive. There are myths surrounding almost every facet of our lives. While some may be harmless, others may put us in harm's way. Listed below are some myths  surrounding nutrition which could have consequences on a child's growth and development.

(1)A pregnant woman should not eat snails lest she delivers a sluggish baby who drools a lot . In reality, snail meat according to experts is a good source of protein,  iron and several other minerals a pregnant woman needs. What is more, it is  relatively cheap in many parts of Nigeria and there has been no evidence whatsoever linking it to sluggishness or excessive drooling in babies.

(2) Giving a child egg can induce stealing in the child. Eggs are said to have significant protein, vitamins and mineral contents which a growing child needs . They have never been known to induce stealing in a child. A child that steals does so for reasons other than eating eggs.

(3)Eating Ogbono, Okro or any draw soup when pregnant makes one deliver a baby with bald head. This particular myth is not only laughable but untrue and no evidence whatsoever exists to strengthen the myth. Some babies are born bald and it has nothing to do with consumption of draw soups.

(4) Fruits cause intestinal worms. This is very untrue . Fruits can get contaminated when grown in, or they get in contact with contaminated environments.The worms can then get transmitted when the fruits are not properly washed, hence the need to wash fruits in salted water or vinegar, especially those to be eaten raw . The sweetness of a fruit has noting to do with intestinal worms.


(5) Eating grass-cutter makes a pregnant woman's labor prolonged. This is laughable and untrue with absolutely no proven evidence backing it. A pregnant woman who wishes to avoid grass-cutter meat can do so for other reasons except prolonged labor as that myth holds no water.

 (6) A mum breastfeeding a newborn should not eat fruits and vegetables as they will make the baby have stomach pain,  diarrhea and jedi jedi. Most fruits and vegetables are rich in fibre and other nutrients vital for a breastfeeding mum. It is even necessary for a new mum to consume significant quantities of fruits and vegetables.

(7) Oily foods cause malaria. Malaria is caused by parasites of the Plasmodium family and is transmitted by the female anopheles mosquito. Oily foods DO NOT CAUSE MALARIA and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest so. Instead of avoiding oily foods because of malaria, sleep under insecticide treated nets and avoid mosquito bites as much as possible because they, and not oily foods cause malaria.

So when next someone tells you any of the myths above, advice the person to discard them as the myths could place them in harm's way.

You can add more of the myths you know in the comments section

Seven things no nursing mum should apologize for

Being a nursing mum is hard and just like all hard things,it comes with its unique challenges. You do not have to fit into a perceived norm. So long as your choices do not lead to you neglecting your baby then you owe no one an apology.

Here are seven things no nursing mum should ever apologize for.

(1) Loving your job. You are supposed to be engrossed with caring for your baby but you rather have your mind on your power-point presentation, your shop, or wherever your duty post is. So long as your baby does not suffer for it, please go ahead. It shows fulfillment in your chosen career. Your baby should be better-off for it in the long run as he/she would likely have a happy mum(which rubs off on children), and a more financially stable home. Your career should not suffer because of motherhood. I once witnessed a midwife who herself just gave birth less than 24 hours before go to assist in delivering the baby of another mother in labour . She still had that legs-apart gait many mothers with recent episiotomies have, but she went to help save at least two more lives. That to me was beautiful and meant she loved what she does for a living. There are certain women who sitting at home can drive crazy, you owe no one an apology if you fall into that category. No one wants a crazy mum.

(2) Furthering your education. I have seen mums use the opportunity of maternity leave to round-up their studies or enroll into a fresh one. Education, just like a career is tasking and can take  you away from your baby . We all at one time or the other need some form of self improvement, do not let nursing a baby deny you an opportunity to do that. Just ensure your baby is in good hands when you are not disposed to attending to him/her.

(3) Choosing not to exclusively breastfeed your baby. Feeding your baby on breast milk alone for the first six months has proven time and again to be the best way to feed a baby, but for certain reasons, some mothers may not be able to keep up with it. You do not have to be shamed into what you cannot afford doing or do not want to do. Go ahead and supplement with formula but keep it in mind that your option is not the best available but is good nevertheless. And you owe no one an apology because no one but you wears your shoes and therefore you alone know where it pinches.

(4) Breastfeeding in public. Most mums can identify with that moment when your child refuses to be pacified except by your jugs, Please go ahead and feed the baby. Yes you can be discreet and do your 'thing' without baring it all. But if there ever exists a situation where you have to choose between baring it all and not feeding your baby, please choose the former. Anyone embarrassed by the sight should look the other way.

(5) Feeling overwhelmed. Nursing and motherhood in general can be overwhelming.Simply get someone to help you with your baby when you  think you are on the verge of breaking down, then take time out to rejuvenate.  It is completely normal and does not stop you from being a super mum. Your baby needs a sane and happy mum so you should do what it takes to retain your sanity.

(6) Calling your baby's doctor at the slightest sign of discomfort. It is okay to be a bit paranoid when it concerns your baby's health. It is better a concern is dismissed  by the doctor than have a health issue aggravate because you do not want to disturb anyone. Never belittle your mummy-instincts no matter how many times it has sparked off when there was little or no cause for alarm. Never apologize for wanting a healthy baby.

(7) Your post-baby body. It is great if you can get your pre-pregnancy body back, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with stretch marks that refuse to clear, extra weight that has refused to burn and the baby bump that has refused to completely flatten. And when anyone makes a negative remark about how you look post-baby, remind the person of the maternal mortality statistics in Nigeria and the fact that making babies in Africa is not a feat for the weak-hearted. You should never apologize for not getting back you pre-pregnancy body.