Breastfeeding can save 4,000 babies per year
Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby's life can help reduce the death toll of newborn babies by 4,000 per year, according to a new study conducted by a charitable organization.
Save The Children, an international non-governmental organization that promotes children's rights and helps support children around the world, yesterday announced the results of its study on how breastfeeding benefits children.
Accordingly, breastfeeding newborns in the first hour after birth will help prevent around 22 percent more babies from dying.
Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby's life not only improves their future growth and educational achievement, but also significantly reduces national health costs and helps prevent malnutrition, experts said.
However, only one-fifth of infants in Vietnam are exclusively breastfed in their first six months, the study warned.
According to the National Institute of Nutrition, only 62 percent of the 1.5 million Vietnamese children born annually are breastfed in the first few hours of their life, and only one out of five mothers exclusively breastfeed their children in the first six months after birth.
A survey by Alive & Thrive Initiative has shown that a large proportion of parents in Vietnam feed their children with formula milk in the first days of their life, and only 20 percent of children benefit from exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months, UNICEF said.
In a report issued in May 2012 on the decline of breastfeeding across East Asia, the United Nations Children's Fund warned that only ten percent of Vietnamese women breastfeed their children.
UNICEF expressed concerns about the decline and emphasized that mothers should understand the long-term benefits of breastfeeding for their children’s survival and development.
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