The do?s and dont's of breastfeeding
Breastfeeding ? the do's and dont's Cue: Breastfeeding presents a real dilemma for the HIV positive mother. While breast milk is definitely the best source of nutrition to the young infant is can also be the means by which HIV is transmitted from mother to child. In Kenya, Alice Ojwang Ndong works with HIV positive women to help them decide what to do and what to eat to stay as health as possible. Winnie Onyimbo asked her to describe the options a woman has to chose from. IN: ?There are three options... OUT: ?your small kitchen garden.? DUR?N: 5?14? BACK ANNOUNCEMENT: That was Alice Ojwang Ndong from Kenya, giving advice to mothers. Don?t mix breastfeeding with milk supplements ? that is her message. And try to eat natural fats such as simsim ? which is sesame seed. The interview comes from a resource pack produced by CTA. Transcript Ndong There are three options for a HIV positive mother who has just given birth. One option is they should breastfeed exclusively for six months ok because breast milk will be food security for the baby but what happens when they get maybe a breast infection or the child has a fungal infection then they have to stop. Then we have what we call abrupt weaning, abrupt weaning is when the mother gives birth and does not breastfeed the child. This one reducing completely the risk of actually infecting the child with HIV. So they will have to give foods for children. Most of the time they are required to give things like formula which is always very expensive but a lot of studies have shown that they can give children just regular meals at home and maybe put more water so that the child does not get constipation or they can use a surrogate mother to breastfeed. Somebody else who is not HIV positive who is breastfeeding they can use that if it is acceptable to them or if it is possible they can give baby food which is baby formula but you know that a lot of people cannot afford that. The most important nutrient when a child is born is iron ok. So to get the iron actually they encourage mothers to use insects you know. Traditionally there are a lot of insects that are eaten so they can actually use that to be able to provide iron for the baby because that is always critical. Then the last and the worst feeding method which actually is not recommended is what we call mixed feeding, meaning the mother breastfeeds and also supplements with regular diet to be able to meet the calorific need. But this is very dangerous because what happens if the child is breastfeeding and then they are being given food it means that the food can actually trauma their gut ok, maybe hurt their gut and I mean that would be an opening for HIV because you know the virus will also be found in milk. Onyimbo What are the best foods for a pregnant mother who is HIV positive to eat to avoid malnutrition? Ndong Ok first of all a pregnant person requires more energy in terms of food and because they will require certain nutrients, they require more iron, they require what we call folic acid and the B vitamins, they are required to eat a little bit more food or more variety than when they are not pregnant. This means that they have to include foods which are rich in iron and these are things like liver and these are things like beans and green leafy vegetables ok. They are also required to take a high protein diet. Animal protein would provide more protein in their diet but a lot of people cannot afford animal proteins like milk, chicken and fish but something like herrings is very nutritious and very fairly priced and they will get all the nutrients they need. It is a good source of iron, it is also a good source of calcium which they need during pregnancy. Onyimbo What about a woman who has just given birth? Ndong The requirements are just the same but because they are going to breastfeed they will need to keep eating the way they were eating when they were pregnant or just even slightly more because the production of milk requires a lot of energy and then they have to have sufficient energy because if they do not then after breastfeeding they feel weak, they feel tired and they loose a lot of weight very fast. So the requirement will just be more or less the same. Onyimbo I would like you to give me the kind of foods that HIV positive woman can grow and eat in poor conditions? Ndong Things like beans, beans will always be cheap, beans will provide you with your protein, beans will provide you with so many nutrients ok. So we need fruits, we need vegetables and we need starches, where the starches would be maize, would be things like bread, the traditional starches are more nutritious then the processed starches ok. So I would encourage all the HIV?s to go back and eat the way our grandparents used to eat and stop eating all these processed foods which are high in sugar, in fat and salt ok. So what is important is they need to know, they need to eat a variety, a variety of leafy African vegetables, a variety of starches from sweet potatoes, a variety of fruits and vegetables. Some practices which people do on a normal day that can be very dangerous to a HIV person is when we take food with tea, tea which means caffeine or coffee ok. What happens if you take food with tea and you take like spinach with tea is it forms some chemicals which actually interfere with absorption of iron and the HIV person really needs that iron. So those are some of the practices that they should stop doing. When you are taking your food just take your food and after taking you can drink a little water ok but do not take your tea with food. Onyimbo In the categories of carbohydrates, proteins and vitamins give me examples of foods that someone can grow locally? Ndong For starches lets say which are the foods which give you energy you can grow sweet potatoes, you can grow maize, those they are seasonal. You can grow what we call Irish potatoes ok and then something like fat, fat also is very good for energy and you can get this from groundnuts and simsim, Ok? For vegetables we have like cowpeas which grow anywhere and very easily. For proteins it is beans and beans and beans: any type of beans. The more variety of beans we have the better. Those can be grown very easily in your small kitchen garden. End of track
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| Format: | Audio biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
2007
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/57358 |
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