I'm so sorry I've been away from here for long; can't explain why. It's the weather, maybe.
Meanwhile, people have been stopping over - like Sally Cutting, below, an illustrator of books for children. She sent me an email that raises a good many salient issues:
Hi Adeleke, Congratulations for your blog! Clear and informative, easy to read. We don’t have enough news from sub-Saharan Africa, though a Spanish scientist made the news here when he found a partial treatment for malaria in children, only 40% effective I seem to remember, but his point was that 40% would be a huge number of children saved.This was to follow:Hi, Adeleke,The doctor who was (and most probably still is) working on a vaccine for malaria is Dr Pedro L Alonso of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain. The project was in collaboration with the Centro de Investigación de la Salud de Manhica, Mozambique.This is now old news, but there was an article in “The Lancet” in October 2004 and I think more recently also. They were conducting trials which I imagine are still under way. Here are some links that may be of interest:-www.manhica.orgwww.malariavaccine.orgwww.thelancet.com/journals
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Now We Can Get To Salvage Some More Stories for Mankind
"It is unacceptable to people here in Africa, who see their families devastated and economies crippled. It is unacceptable to people in the United States, who believe every human life has value, and that the power to save lives comes with the moral obligation to use it." - U.S. President Bush in rural Tanzania
Things are certainly heating up to signal the end for Malaria! Please go to the link below to savour a victory for humankind on a battle-front deep inside Africa. Then join in the victory chant: Kataa Malaria! (Swahili: 'Reject Malaria!')
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080218/ap_on_re_af/bush_africa;_ylt=AkQnmrT.DtnUUMw2ylVM69ys0NUE
Excerpts: "The disease keeps sick workers home, schoolyards quiet, communities in mourning. The suffering caused by malaria is needless and every death caused by malaria is unacceptable."
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Re: “Malaria - The Final Solution?” Response from Leading Malaria Researcher
N.B. Foremost malaria diagnosis researcher, Prof Paul Wiseman, has kindly responded to my Malaria write-up, first published in leading Nigerian monthly, TIMELESS:
Re: “Malaria - The Final Solution?”
Dear Adeleke,
I just finished your article and greatly enjoyed it.
Thank you for your interest in our recent research. I would be happy to do an online chat sometime.
I should point out that our research has shown a window into detection of malaria by the hemozoin pigment that the parasites all produce. So the next stage in this research is securing support to build a prototype device. I have been contacted by several researchers in the malaria field who are hopeful about this, so I am hoping we can take this to the next stage.
I must admit that I did not know much about malaria one year ago...the scale of this disease is indeed staggering.
It is early in the process, but I would be most pleased if our research made some impact on accurate and early diagnosis. So I am learning and encouraged that this little project appears to be exciting researchers and others directly affected by the disease. (I have received e-mails from doctors and nurses in the Cameroon and the Philippines as well.)
I would be more than happy if you wanted to visit our lab…
Regards,
Prof. Paul Wiseman
McGill University, Montreal Canada
“There is a silent tsunami under way all the time in rural Africa. Every month, as many children die of malaria in Africa as died in the tsunami – about 150,000 children dying every month.” – Dr. Jeffery Sachs, director of the U.N. Millennium Project, Columbia University Economist
Re: “Malaria - The Final Solution?”
Dear Adeleke,
I just finished your article and greatly enjoyed it.
Thank you for your interest in our recent research. I would be happy to do an online chat sometime.
I should point out that our research has shown a window into detection of malaria by the hemozoin pigment that the parasites all produce. So the next stage in this research is securing support to build a prototype device. I have been contacted by several researchers in the malaria field who are hopeful about this, so I am hoping we can take this to the next stage.
I must admit that I did not know much about malaria one year ago...the scale of this disease is indeed staggering.
It is early in the process, but I would be most pleased if our research made some impact on accurate and early diagnosis. So I am learning and encouraged that this little project appears to be exciting researchers and others directly affected by the disease. (I have received e-mails from doctors and nurses in the Cameroon and the Philippines as well.)
I would be more than happy if you wanted to visit our lab…
Regards,
Prof. Paul Wiseman
McGill University, Montreal Canada
“There is a silent tsunami under way all the time in rural Africa. Every month, as many children die of malaria in Africa as died in the tsunami – about 150,000 children dying every month.” – Dr. Jeffery Sachs, director of the U.N. Millennium Project, Columbia University Economist
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Spare A Love-Thot For The 43,200 Tots Who Will Die Today - From Malaria (N.B.Pls google for the reseachers' contacts to hail them: 'Well done!'
Malaria: The Final Solution?
With advances in the science of medicine escalating by leaps and bounds, we are truly at a unique point in human history. Diseases and other medical issues that have run rampant wait to be dealt the deathblow they deserve, thanks to breathtaking breakthroughs in scientific research. These seem to be by only a few dedicated people who think outside the box, in the true tradition of the scientist and other intellectual entrepreneurs who have, over time, changed the course of our world for the better.
As Science takes on the menace of malaria with a resolve that promises to yield a final solution, there is a take we must note on the state of research infrastructure and scientific undertakings on our shores. It is significant that the twin breakthroughs about to be celebrated by the world at large also serve to underscore the glaring entrenched dearth of research and scientific enterprise here. This state of affairs, in the final analysis, simply means that our education, especially at the critical university level, has ceased to be universal and functional; the system is no longer amenable to problem-solving.
Instead, it has become stuck in a rut of rote learning, one from which students (as much clueless as their handlers) simply strive to scamper off ‘certificated’ – not necessarily the same thing as being educated.
Thankfully, there is now in place an initiative for bringing about a culture of relevant scientific inquiry into all things boggling in the land. This is the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas NLNG-endowed Nigeria Prize for Science (there is a second for Literature). Regretfully, even this glimmer of hope for catalysing a badly needed revolution has had cause to blink in perturbation as the Prize has not been awarded half of the time since its inception. Ever inventive, the organisers have gone a step ahead to put the ‘unclaimed’ cumulative prize money - $20, 000 the first time; $ 30, 000 the next time – into a fund for upgrading laboratory facilities in select institutions across the country. Let’s leave government out of this, please.
Whether for gain or fame, there is no gainsaying the fact that once again, well before the initiative above catches up, the North, already with a well established culture of scientific research, is reaching down to our half of the world (the Southern hemisphere) with sorely needed help: a line of attack to eradicate – completely – the scourge of malaria. Most common in tropical and subtropical regions, malaria is a universal curse that strikes to leave in its trail 350 to 500 million (reported) new cases annually. According to UNICEF, an African child is lost to it every 30 seconds.
While preventative measures such as sleeping under a mosquito net, flitting sleeping quarters or the use of preventive medication, have proven to reduce the risk of coming down with malaria, it has however been difficult to discover a truly long-lasting solution to the spread of the disease.
Though not a new idea, gene modification is what scientists believe will be the hero to millions of individuals who remain at risk of the debilitating disease. The science has been in use in plants to eliminate certain characteristics from strains of some species in order to help farmers end up with better crops. Now, the focus of the technology has shifted to one of Man’s giants that would not be so easily slain: the mosquito.
The idea is to create a genetically altered mosquito with a resistant gene that kills the parasite causing malaria (plasmodium, extant as many strains) without harming the mosquito. This bug would then be introduced into the population of mosquitoes carrying the malaria parasite. When the mosquito produces offspring, the resistant gene would be passed on to the new generation of mosquitoes, which would then pass it on to the next generation, and so on. Eventually, the parasites causing the disease would be weeded out of their vector organism – the mosquito – completely. The theory is robust.
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States are toying with the idea of creating such a mosquito. It’s looking more and more a possibility. It remains one of the more promising ideas out there for bidding good riddance to a really bad disease.
Monster no more
In the meantime, while we keep our fingers crossed waiting for this final solution, coming still from the sides of the North is an optical laser technique that will soon eliminate the need for slides, staining and microscopes, the standard laboratory set-up in testing people for the disease.
A research team led by Dr. Paul Wiseman of the Departments of Physics and Chemistry at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, has developed a radically new technique that uses lasers and non-linear optical effects to detect malaria infection in human blood. The researchers say the new technique holds the promise of simpler, faster and far less labour-intensive detection of the malaria parasite in blood samples. This rapid malaria detection breakthrough is set to glide out from the Northern Hemisphere, to take on the world of Plasmodium in the South, where the parasite holds patent sway, shortly. The resources and trained personnel required to accurately diagnose the disease are spread the thinnest in sub-Saharan Africa, where most of the fatalities are concentrated.
Current detection techniques require trained technicians to stain slides, look for the parasite’s DNA signature under the microscope, and then manually count all the visible infected cells, a laborious process dependent on the skill and availability of trained analysts. In contrast, the proposed new technique relies on a known optical effect called third harmonic generation (THG), which causes hemozoin – a crystalline substance secreted by the parasite – to glow blue when irradiated by an infrared laser.
“People who are familiar with music know about acoustic harmonics,” explained Dr. Wiseman. “Everybody has a fundamental sound frequency and then multiples of that frequency. Non-linear optical effects are similar: if you shine an intense laser beam of a specific frequency on certain types of materials, you generate multiples of [their] frequency. Hemozoin has a huge, non-linear optical response for the third harmonic, which causes the blue glow.”
According to Mark Shainblum of the Media Relations Office at McGill, Dr. Wiseman and his colleagues hope to co-opt existing well-established technologies like fibre-optic communications lasers and fluorescent cell sorters into their groundbreaking technique to quickly move it out of the laboratory and into the field.
“We’re imagining a self-contained unit that could be used in clinics in endemic countries,” said Dr. Wiseman. “The operator could inject the cell sample directly into the device, and then it would come up with a count of the total number of existing infected cells without manual intervention.”
Hopefully, the relevant authorities in Africa and all other regions of the world where malaria is endemic will lend moral support towards accelerating the dividends from these researches to get them home to their grassroots, thereby achieving the shortest possible lab-to-town transit. Malaria has maligned efforts at development in these places much and for far too long for it to be spared a moment longer.
Can we move on to the next disease on the agenda, please?
Did You Know?
‘Malaria’ is a Latin word. It was coined to describe the condition based on the thinking that the disease is caused by inhaling or exposure to bad (‘mal’) air (‘aria’).
With advances in the science of medicine escalating by leaps and bounds, we are truly at a unique point in human history. Diseases and other medical issues that have run rampant wait to be dealt the deathblow they deserve, thanks to breathtaking breakthroughs in scientific research. These seem to be by only a few dedicated people who think outside the box, in the true tradition of the scientist and other intellectual entrepreneurs who have, over time, changed the course of our world for the better.
As Science takes on the menace of malaria with a resolve that promises to yield a final solution, there is a take we must note on the state of research infrastructure and scientific undertakings on our shores. It is significant that the twin breakthroughs about to be celebrated by the world at large also serve to underscore the glaring entrenched dearth of research and scientific enterprise here. This state of affairs, in the final analysis, simply means that our education, especially at the critical university level, has ceased to be universal and functional; the system is no longer amenable to problem-solving.
Instead, it has become stuck in a rut of rote learning, one from which students (as much clueless as their handlers) simply strive to scamper off ‘certificated’ – not necessarily the same thing as being educated.
Thankfully, there is now in place an initiative for bringing about a culture of relevant scientific inquiry into all things boggling in the land. This is the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas NLNG-endowed Nigeria Prize for Science (there is a second for Literature). Regretfully, even this glimmer of hope for catalysing a badly needed revolution has had cause to blink in perturbation as the Prize has not been awarded half of the time since its inception. Ever inventive, the organisers have gone a step ahead to put the ‘unclaimed’ cumulative prize money - $20, 000 the first time; $ 30, 000 the next time – into a fund for upgrading laboratory facilities in select institutions across the country. Let’s leave government out of this, please.
Whether for gain or fame, there is no gainsaying the fact that once again, well before the initiative above catches up, the North, already with a well established culture of scientific research, is reaching down to our half of the world (the Southern hemisphere) with sorely needed help: a line of attack to eradicate – completely – the scourge of malaria. Most common in tropical and subtropical regions, malaria is a universal curse that strikes to leave in its trail 350 to 500 million (reported) new cases annually. According to UNICEF, an African child is lost to it every 30 seconds.
While preventative measures such as sleeping under a mosquito net, flitting sleeping quarters or the use of preventive medication, have proven to reduce the risk of coming down with malaria, it has however been difficult to discover a truly long-lasting solution to the spread of the disease.
Though not a new idea, gene modification is what scientists believe will be the hero to millions of individuals who remain at risk of the debilitating disease. The science has been in use in plants to eliminate certain characteristics from strains of some species in order to help farmers end up with better crops. Now, the focus of the technology has shifted to one of Man’s giants that would not be so easily slain: the mosquito.
The idea is to create a genetically altered mosquito with a resistant gene that kills the parasite causing malaria (plasmodium, extant as many strains) without harming the mosquito. This bug would then be introduced into the population of mosquitoes carrying the malaria parasite. When the mosquito produces offspring, the resistant gene would be passed on to the new generation of mosquitoes, which would then pass it on to the next generation, and so on. Eventually, the parasites causing the disease would be weeded out of their vector organism – the mosquito – completely. The theory is robust.
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States are toying with the idea of creating such a mosquito. It’s looking more and more a possibility. It remains one of the more promising ideas out there for bidding good riddance to a really bad disease.
Monster no more
In the meantime, while we keep our fingers crossed waiting for this final solution, coming still from the sides of the North is an optical laser technique that will soon eliminate the need for slides, staining and microscopes, the standard laboratory set-up in testing people for the disease.
A research team led by Dr. Paul Wiseman of the Departments of Physics and Chemistry at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, has developed a radically new technique that uses lasers and non-linear optical effects to detect malaria infection in human blood. The researchers say the new technique holds the promise of simpler, faster and far less labour-intensive detection of the malaria parasite in blood samples. This rapid malaria detection breakthrough is set to glide out from the Northern Hemisphere, to take on the world of Plasmodium in the South, where the parasite holds patent sway, shortly. The resources and trained personnel required to accurately diagnose the disease are spread the thinnest in sub-Saharan Africa, where most of the fatalities are concentrated.
Current detection techniques require trained technicians to stain slides, look for the parasite’s DNA signature under the microscope, and then manually count all the visible infected cells, a laborious process dependent on the skill and availability of trained analysts. In contrast, the proposed new technique relies on a known optical effect called third harmonic generation (THG), which causes hemozoin – a crystalline substance secreted by the parasite – to glow blue when irradiated by an infrared laser.
“People who are familiar with music know about acoustic harmonics,” explained Dr. Wiseman. “Everybody has a fundamental sound frequency and then multiples of that frequency. Non-linear optical effects are similar: if you shine an intense laser beam of a specific frequency on certain types of materials, you generate multiples of [their] frequency. Hemozoin has a huge, non-linear optical response for the third harmonic, which causes the blue glow.”
According to Mark Shainblum of the Media Relations Office at McGill, Dr. Wiseman and his colleagues hope to co-opt existing well-established technologies like fibre-optic communications lasers and fluorescent cell sorters into their groundbreaking technique to quickly move it out of the laboratory and into the field.
“We’re imagining a self-contained unit that could be used in clinics in endemic countries,” said Dr. Wiseman. “The operator could inject the cell sample directly into the device, and then it would come up with a count of the total number of existing infected cells without manual intervention.”
Hopefully, the relevant authorities in Africa and all other regions of the world where malaria is endemic will lend moral support towards accelerating the dividends from these researches to get them home to their grassroots, thereby achieving the shortest possible lab-to-town transit. Malaria has maligned efforts at development in these places much and for far too long for it to be spared a moment longer.
Can we move on to the next disease on the agenda, please?
Did You Know?
‘Malaria’ is a Latin word. It was coined to describe the condition based on the thinking that the disease is caused by inhaling or exposure to bad (‘mal’) air (‘aria’).
On This St. Valentine's Day: Can You Relate To This?
Breast Feeding: A Labour of Love
“...although it is not the norm in most industrial cultures, UNICEF and the WHO both advise breast-feeding to ‘two years and beyond’” - Jack Newman, M.D., in Scientific American
Mother knows best!
“Breastfeeding is the best thing a mother can give to her child. Though a rigorous task for a mother to breastfeed for six months exclusively and still keep on breastfeeding for up to or even longer, it’s a much easier task at day’s end. It is also the cleanest, safest feed your child can have. There is no need to sterilize, or measure, anything. Further, it has all a baby needs. What more can Mother – and Child – ask for?
“Babies breastfed develop a very strong bond to their mothers and ultimately turn out more compassionate and kind when they become grown-ups, it makes them have a very strong conscience too.
“I have also noticed that the baby teeth without much difficulty may be a little warm, nothing a little Paracetamol will not do the trick to calm! Breastfed babies start teething between 5 months and 8 months, compare that with baby fed formula or mixed (both breast milk and formula) you will have to use all sorts of baby teething drugs to see them through.
“Moreover, breast milk gives babies the immunity they need in the first 6 months of life: it contains all necessary vitamins, minerals and so on as well. Rarely do breastfed babies develop coughs, colds and do not fall ill often, no going to see doctors. Well actually for me have not taken my son to the hospital to be treated for being sick because he has never fallen ill and he is now 10 months old.
“I can also state as a matter of fact that breastfed babies find it easy to start on solids. My son, Funsho, started showing avid interest from 4 months, but I didn’t start him on solids till he turned 6months old, though giving him tit bits from 5 months helped stimulate his appetite. Now he has a very strong and large appetite and he digests easily too.
“Oh, yes, [‘exclusive’] can be done! It’s a sacrifice a mother should consider making for her child ungrudgingly – a labour of love with rewards that money just cannot buy!” (Testimony by Mrs. Moji Lala.)
Colostrum Calling
Also known as lactation and nursing, breastfeeding offers many benefits to the baby. The very first mix that drips after birth – know as colostrums cocktail – is the best welcome party to give a newly-born.
Breast milk contains the right balance of nutrients to help your infant grow into a strong and healthy toddler. Some of the nutrients in breast milk also help protect your infant against common childhood illnesses and infections. It also holds benefits for mother’s health, too! Certain types of cancer seem to occur less often in mothers who have breastfed their babies. Breastfeeding has been shown to be superior in every way for mother and baby. There is no longer any denying the God-be-blessed fact.
Long gone are the days when doctors and health practitioners of any type actively promote bottle feeding as a ‘better alternative’. Even health facilities have come to be compliant: There is now incumbent on them to brand themselves as “baby-friendly”. Watch out for the signage. Time and again, Research goes with Nature: Breast is best!
Touch the future…
Breast-milk is more easily digested than formula. It is ideally suited for your baby’s immature digestive system. For instance, 50% of iron in breast-milk is absorbed compared to 4% in iron-fortified formulas.
Breastfed babies have a lower incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Breastfeeding reduces allergies. (Allergies are 7 times more prevalent in formula-fed babies.)
Some studies have shown that breastfed babies have a higher I.Q.
Breast-milk is a living substance that changes with gestational age of baby, stage of lactation, time of day, and growth needs of the infant. No formula can do that!
Breastfed babies get sick less often and when they become ill, it’s less severe; they have a lower risk of diarrhoeal disease, gastrointestinal illness, respiratory disease and lower incidence of otitis media (ear infections)
Breastfed babies have fewer learning and behaviour difficulties
Breastfeeding promotes optimal growth and neurological development
Breastfeeding helps prevent malocclusion and leads to better teeth and jaw development
Breastfeeding enhances visual development in baby.
It’s in Mom’s best interest, too!
Breastfeeding promotes closeness and bonding between Mother and Child.
Breast-milk is free! Even if you include the cost of renting or purchasing a breast pump and dietary supplements, breastfeeding is still much less expensive.
Breastfeeding returns your uterus to non-pregnant size quickly and reduces your risk of haemorrhage and postpartum blood loss.
Breastfeeding is more restful. You have frequent rest periods while nursing; night feeding is easier. You can sleep while nursing; the prolactin in breast milk is a natural tranquilizer.
You don’t have to worry about breast-milk being contaminated at the factory!
You don’t have to worry about improperly mixing your breast-milk.
When you are breastfeeding, your breast-milk is always at the right temperature: no warming, or worrying about it being too hot.
When you breastfeed, your baby’s poop doesn’t stink!
Breast-feeding helps you lose your pregnancy weight faster!
Breastfeeding provides the mother with a hormone-induced contentment
Breastfeeding is protective against cancerous growths (breast, ovarian, cervical)
The crucial role of breast milk with its loads of immunological agents for protecting the newborn infant against an armada of diseases and illnesses is well known, as is its essential role in promoting the development of the infant’s own immune system. But it is less well known that the infant’s immune system does not reach maturity until about 5-6 years of age. This developmental immaturity of the infant’s immune system can serve as a guide to appreciating the developmental immaturity of the infant’s brain with its various structural, neurochemical and electrophysiological processes that extend in development well beyond the 5-6 years of maturity for the immune system.
As has been well said,’ to predict the future, invent (i.e. invest in) it today.’ An African folklore holds that children who are never suckled go on to become brazen, heartless and callous citizens in life. Therefore, in the interest of human love and peace, will all of us who suckled and so have flowing in us the milk of human kindness rise up to toast to human milk for human babies everywhere, every time…Go on, say it: Thanks, Mom. I love you… it’s Valentine!
Please note: There are some cases when it’s better not to breast feed. If you have HIV or active tuberculosis, you should not breast feed because you could give the infection to your baby. Certain medicines, illegal drugs, and alcohol can also pass through the breast milk and cause harm to your baby.
Some women choose not to breastfeed, maybe as a lifestyle choice or through choosing to return to work. There are others who are simply physically unable to do so due to an existing physical condition which may prevent them, even if they wanted to.
Mother knows best…I know!
“...although it is not the norm in most industrial cultures, UNICEF and the WHO both advise breast-feeding to ‘two years and beyond’” - Jack Newman, M.D., in Scientific American
Mother knows best!
“Breastfeeding is the best thing a mother can give to her child. Though a rigorous task for a mother to breastfeed for six months exclusively and still keep on breastfeeding for up to or even longer, it’s a much easier task at day’s end. It is also the cleanest, safest feed your child can have. There is no need to sterilize, or measure, anything. Further, it has all a baby needs. What more can Mother – and Child – ask for?
“Babies breastfed develop a very strong bond to their mothers and ultimately turn out more compassionate and kind when they become grown-ups, it makes them have a very strong conscience too.
“I have also noticed that the baby teeth without much difficulty may be a little warm, nothing a little Paracetamol will not do the trick to calm! Breastfed babies start teething between 5 months and 8 months, compare that with baby fed formula or mixed (both breast milk and formula) you will have to use all sorts of baby teething drugs to see them through.
“Moreover, breast milk gives babies the immunity they need in the first 6 months of life: it contains all necessary vitamins, minerals and so on as well. Rarely do breastfed babies develop coughs, colds and do not fall ill often, no going to see doctors. Well actually for me have not taken my son to the hospital to be treated for being sick because he has never fallen ill and he is now 10 months old.
“I can also state as a matter of fact that breastfed babies find it easy to start on solids. My son, Funsho, started showing avid interest from 4 months, but I didn’t start him on solids till he turned 6months old, though giving him tit bits from 5 months helped stimulate his appetite. Now he has a very strong and large appetite and he digests easily too.
“Oh, yes, [‘exclusive’] can be done! It’s a sacrifice a mother should consider making for her child ungrudgingly – a labour of love with rewards that money just cannot buy!” (Testimony by Mrs. Moji Lala.)
Colostrum Calling
Also known as lactation and nursing, breastfeeding offers many benefits to the baby. The very first mix that drips after birth – know as colostrums cocktail – is the best welcome party to give a newly-born.
Breast milk contains the right balance of nutrients to help your infant grow into a strong and healthy toddler. Some of the nutrients in breast milk also help protect your infant against common childhood illnesses and infections. It also holds benefits for mother’s health, too! Certain types of cancer seem to occur less often in mothers who have breastfed their babies. Breastfeeding has been shown to be superior in every way for mother and baby. There is no longer any denying the God-be-blessed fact.
Long gone are the days when doctors and health practitioners of any type actively promote bottle feeding as a ‘better alternative’. Even health facilities have come to be compliant: There is now incumbent on them to brand themselves as “baby-friendly”. Watch out for the signage. Time and again, Research goes with Nature: Breast is best!
Touch the future…
Breast-milk is more easily digested than formula. It is ideally suited for your baby’s immature digestive system. For instance, 50% of iron in breast-milk is absorbed compared to 4% in iron-fortified formulas.
Breastfed babies have a lower incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Breastfeeding reduces allergies. (Allergies are 7 times more prevalent in formula-fed babies.)
Some studies have shown that breastfed babies have a higher I.Q.
Breast-milk is a living substance that changes with gestational age of baby, stage of lactation, time of day, and growth needs of the infant. No formula can do that!
Breastfed babies get sick less often and when they become ill, it’s less severe; they have a lower risk of diarrhoeal disease, gastrointestinal illness, respiratory disease and lower incidence of otitis media (ear infections)
Breastfed babies have fewer learning and behaviour difficulties
Breastfeeding promotes optimal growth and neurological development
Breastfeeding helps prevent malocclusion and leads to better teeth and jaw development
Breastfeeding enhances visual development in baby.
It’s in Mom’s best interest, too!
Breastfeeding promotes closeness and bonding between Mother and Child.
Breast-milk is free! Even if you include the cost of renting or purchasing a breast pump and dietary supplements, breastfeeding is still much less expensive.
Breastfeeding returns your uterus to non-pregnant size quickly and reduces your risk of haemorrhage and postpartum blood loss.
Breastfeeding is more restful. You have frequent rest periods while nursing; night feeding is easier. You can sleep while nursing; the prolactin in breast milk is a natural tranquilizer.
You don’t have to worry about breast-milk being contaminated at the factory!
You don’t have to worry about improperly mixing your breast-milk.
When you are breastfeeding, your breast-milk is always at the right temperature: no warming, or worrying about it being too hot.
When you breastfeed, your baby’s poop doesn’t stink!
Breast-feeding helps you lose your pregnancy weight faster!
Breastfeeding provides the mother with a hormone-induced contentment
Breastfeeding is protective against cancerous growths (breast, ovarian, cervical)
The crucial role of breast milk with its loads of immunological agents for protecting the newborn infant against an armada of diseases and illnesses is well known, as is its essential role in promoting the development of the infant’s own immune system. But it is less well known that the infant’s immune system does not reach maturity until about 5-6 years of age. This developmental immaturity of the infant’s immune system can serve as a guide to appreciating the developmental immaturity of the infant’s brain with its various structural, neurochemical and electrophysiological processes that extend in development well beyond the 5-6 years of maturity for the immune system.
As has been well said,’ to predict the future, invent (i.e. invest in) it today.’ An African folklore holds that children who are never suckled go on to become brazen, heartless and callous citizens in life. Therefore, in the interest of human love and peace, will all of us who suckled and so have flowing in us the milk of human kindness rise up to toast to human milk for human babies everywhere, every time…Go on, say it: Thanks, Mom. I love you… it’s Valentine!
Please note: There are some cases when it’s better not to breast feed. If you have HIV or active tuberculosis, you should not breast feed because you could give the infection to your baby. Certain medicines, illegal drugs, and alcohol can also pass through the breast milk and cause harm to your baby.
Some women choose not to breastfeed, maybe as a lifestyle choice or through choosing to return to work. There are others who are simply physically unable to do so due to an existing physical condition which may prevent them, even if they wanted to.
Mother knows best…I know!
On This St. Valentine's Day: Can You Relate To This?
Breast Feeding: A Labour of Love
“...although it is not the norm in most industrial cultures, UNICEF and the WHO both advise breast-feeding to ‘two years and beyond’” - Jack Newman, M.D., in Scientific American
Mother knows best!
“Breastfeeding is the best thing a mother can give to her child. Though a rigorous task for a mother to breastfeed for six months exclusively and still keep on breastfeeding for up to or even longer, it’s a much easier task at day’s end. It is also the cleanest, safest feed your child can have. There is no need to sterilize, or measure, anything. Further, it has all a baby needs. What more can Mother – and Child – ask for?
“Babies breastfed develop a very strong bond to their mothers and ultimately turn out more compassionate and kind when they become grown-ups, it makes them have a very strong conscience too.
“I have also noticed that the baby teeth without much difficulty may be a little warm, nothing a little Paracetamol will not do the trick to calm! Breastfed babies start teething between 5 months and 8 months, compare that with baby fed formula or mixed (both breast milk and formula) you will have to use all sorts of baby teething drugs to see them through.
“Moreover, breast milk gives babies the immunity they need in the first 6 months of life: it contains all necessary vitamins, minerals and so on as well. Rarely do breastfed babies develop coughs, colds and do not fall ill often, no going to see doctors. Well actually for me have not taken my son to the hospital to be treated for being sick because he has never fallen ill and he is now 10 months old.
“I can also state as a matter of fact that breastfed babies find it easy to start on solids. My son, Funsho, started showing avid interest from 4 months, but I didn’t start him on solids till he turned 6months old, though giving him tit bits from 5 months helped stimulate his appetite. Now he has a very strong and large appetite and he digests easily too.
“Oh, yes, [‘exclusive’] can be done! It’s a sacrifice a mother should consider making for her child ungrudgingly – a labour of love with rewards that money just cannot buy!” (Testimony by Mrs. Moji Lala.)
Colostrum Calling
Also known as lactation and nursing, breastfeeding offers many benefits to the baby. The very first mix that drips after birth – know as colostrums cocktail – is the best welcome party to give a newly-born.
Breast milk contains the right balance of nutrients to help your infant grow into a strong and healthy toddler. Some of the nutrients in breast milk also help protect your infant against common childhood illnesses and infections. It also holds benefits for mother’s health, too! Certain types of cancer seem to occur less often in mothers who have breastfed their babies. Breastfeeding has been shown to be superior in every way for mother and baby. There is no longer any denying the God-be-blessed fact.
Long gone are the days when doctors and health practitioners of any type actively promote bottle feeding as a ‘better alternative’. Even health facilities have come to be compliant: There is now incumbent on them to brand themselves as “baby-friendly”. Watch out for the signage. Time and again, Research goes with Nature: Breast is best!
Touch the future…
Breast-milk is more easily digested than formula. It is ideally suited for your baby’s immature digestive system. For instance, 50% of iron in breast-milk is absorbed compared to 4% in iron-fortified formulas.
Breastfed babies have a lower incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Breastfeeding reduces allergies. (Allergies are 7 times more prevalent in formula-fed babies.)
Some studies have shown that breastfed babies have a higher I.Q.
Breast-milk is a living substance that changes with gestational age of baby, stage of lactation, time of day, and growth needs of the infant. No formula can do that!
Breastfed babies get sick less often and when they become ill, it’s less severe; they have a lower risk of diarrhoeal disease, gastrointestinal illness, respiratory disease and lower incidence of otitis media (ear infections)
Breastfed babies have fewer learning and behaviour difficulties
Breastfeeding promotes optimal growth and neurological development
Breastfeeding helps prevent malocclusion and leads to better teeth and jaw development
Breastfeeding enhances visual development in baby.
It’s in Mom’s best interest, too!
Breastfeeding promotes closeness and bonding between Mother and Child.
Breast-milk is free! Even if you include the cost of renting or purchasing a breast pump and dietary supplements, breastfeeding is still much less expensive.
Breastfeeding returns your uterus to non-pregnant size quickly and reduces your risk of haemorrhage and postpartum blood loss.
Breastfeeding is more restful. You have frequent rest periods while nursing; night feeding is easier. You can sleep while nursing; the prolactin in breast milk is a natural tranquilizer.
You don’t have to worry about breast-milk being contaminated at the factory!
You don’t have to worry about improperly mixing your breast-milk.
When you are breastfeeding, your breast-milk is always at the right temperature: no warming, or worrying about it being too hot.
When you breastfeed, your baby’s poop doesn’t stink!
Breast-feeding helps you lose your pregnancy weight faster!
Breastfeeding provides the mother with a hormone-induced contentment
Breastfeeding is protective against cancerous growths (breast, ovarian, cervical)
The crucial role of breast milk with its loads of immunological agents for protecting the newborn infant against an armada of diseases and illnesses is well known, as is its essential role in promoting the development of the infant’s own immune system. But it is less well known that the infant’s immune system does not reach maturity until about 5-6 years of age. This developmental immaturity of the infant’s immune system can serve as a guide to appreciating the developmental immaturity of the infant’s brain with its various structural, neurochemical and electrophysiological processes that extend in development well beyond the 5-6 years of maturity for the immune system.
As has been well said,’ to predict the future, invent (i.e. invest in) it today.’ An African folklore holds that children who are never suckled go on to become brazen, heartless and callous citizens in life. Therefore, in the interest of human love and peace, will all of us who suckled and so have flowing in us the milk of human kindness rise up to toast to human milk for human babies everywhere, every time…Go on, say it: Thanks, Mom. I love you… it’s Valentine!
Please note: There are some cases when it’s better not to breast feed. If you have HIV or active tuberculosis, you should not breast feed because you could give the infection to your baby. Certain medicines, illegal drugs, and alcohol can also pass through the breast milk and cause harm to your baby.
Some women choose not to breastfeed, maybe as a lifestyle choice or through choosing to return to work. There are others who are simply physically unable to do so due to an existing physical condition which may prevent them, even if they wanted to.
Funsho and Mom: Mother knows best…I know!
“...although it is not the norm in most industrial cultures, UNICEF and the WHO both advise breast-feeding to ‘two years and beyond’” - Jack Newman, M.D., in Scientific American
Mother knows best!
“Breastfeeding is the best thing a mother can give to her child. Though a rigorous task for a mother to breastfeed for six months exclusively and still keep on breastfeeding for up to or even longer, it’s a much easier task at day’s end. It is also the cleanest, safest feed your child can have. There is no need to sterilize, or measure, anything. Further, it has all a baby needs. What more can Mother – and Child – ask for?
“Babies breastfed develop a very strong bond to their mothers and ultimately turn out more compassionate and kind when they become grown-ups, it makes them have a very strong conscience too.
“I have also noticed that the baby teeth without much difficulty may be a little warm, nothing a little Paracetamol will not do the trick to calm! Breastfed babies start teething between 5 months and 8 months, compare that with baby fed formula or mixed (both breast milk and formula) you will have to use all sorts of baby teething drugs to see them through.
“Moreover, breast milk gives babies the immunity they need in the first 6 months of life: it contains all necessary vitamins, minerals and so on as well. Rarely do breastfed babies develop coughs, colds and do not fall ill often, no going to see doctors. Well actually for me have not taken my son to the hospital to be treated for being sick because he has never fallen ill and he is now 10 months old.
“I can also state as a matter of fact that breastfed babies find it easy to start on solids. My son, Funsho, started showing avid interest from 4 months, but I didn’t start him on solids till he turned 6months old, though giving him tit bits from 5 months helped stimulate his appetite. Now he has a very strong and large appetite and he digests easily too.
“Oh, yes, [‘exclusive’] can be done! It’s a sacrifice a mother should consider making for her child ungrudgingly – a labour of love with rewards that money just cannot buy!” (Testimony by Mrs. Moji Lala.)
Colostrum Calling
Also known as lactation and nursing, breastfeeding offers many benefits to the baby. The very first mix that drips after birth – know as colostrums cocktail – is the best welcome party to give a newly-born.
Breast milk contains the right balance of nutrients to help your infant grow into a strong and healthy toddler. Some of the nutrients in breast milk also help protect your infant against common childhood illnesses and infections. It also holds benefits for mother’s health, too! Certain types of cancer seem to occur less often in mothers who have breastfed their babies. Breastfeeding has been shown to be superior in every way for mother and baby. There is no longer any denying the God-be-blessed fact.
Long gone are the days when doctors and health practitioners of any type actively promote bottle feeding as a ‘better alternative’. Even health facilities have come to be compliant: There is now incumbent on them to brand themselves as “baby-friendly”. Watch out for the signage. Time and again, Research goes with Nature: Breast is best!
Touch the future…
Breast-milk is more easily digested than formula. It is ideally suited for your baby’s immature digestive system. For instance, 50% of iron in breast-milk is absorbed compared to 4% in iron-fortified formulas.
Breastfed babies have a lower incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Breastfeeding reduces allergies. (Allergies are 7 times more prevalent in formula-fed babies.)
Some studies have shown that breastfed babies have a higher I.Q.
Breast-milk is a living substance that changes with gestational age of baby, stage of lactation, time of day, and growth needs of the infant. No formula can do that!
Breastfed babies get sick less often and when they become ill, it’s less severe; they have a lower risk of diarrhoeal disease, gastrointestinal illness, respiratory disease and lower incidence of otitis media (ear infections)
Breastfed babies have fewer learning and behaviour difficulties
Breastfeeding promotes optimal growth and neurological development
Breastfeeding helps prevent malocclusion and leads to better teeth and jaw development
Breastfeeding enhances visual development in baby.
It’s in Mom’s best interest, too!
Breastfeeding promotes closeness and bonding between Mother and Child.
Breast-milk is free! Even if you include the cost of renting or purchasing a breast pump and dietary supplements, breastfeeding is still much less expensive.
Breastfeeding returns your uterus to non-pregnant size quickly and reduces your risk of haemorrhage and postpartum blood loss.
Breastfeeding is more restful. You have frequent rest periods while nursing; night feeding is easier. You can sleep while nursing; the prolactin in breast milk is a natural tranquilizer.
You don’t have to worry about breast-milk being contaminated at the factory!
You don’t have to worry about improperly mixing your breast-milk.
When you are breastfeeding, your breast-milk is always at the right temperature: no warming, or worrying about it being too hot.
When you breastfeed, your baby’s poop doesn’t stink!
Breast-feeding helps you lose your pregnancy weight faster!
Breastfeeding provides the mother with a hormone-induced contentment
Breastfeeding is protective against cancerous growths (breast, ovarian, cervical)
The crucial role of breast milk with its loads of immunological agents for protecting the newborn infant against an armada of diseases and illnesses is well known, as is its essential role in promoting the development of the infant’s own immune system. But it is less well known that the infant’s immune system does not reach maturity until about 5-6 years of age. This developmental immaturity of the infant’s immune system can serve as a guide to appreciating the developmental immaturity of the infant’s brain with its various structural, neurochemical and electrophysiological processes that extend in development well beyond the 5-6 years of maturity for the immune system.
As has been well said,’ to predict the future, invent (i.e. invest in) it today.’ An African folklore holds that children who are never suckled go on to become brazen, heartless and callous citizens in life. Therefore, in the interest of human love and peace, will all of us who suckled and so have flowing in us the milk of human kindness rise up to toast to human milk for human babies everywhere, every time…Go on, say it: Thanks, Mom. I love you… it’s Valentine!
Please note: There are some cases when it’s better not to breast feed. If you have HIV or active tuberculosis, you should not breast feed because you could give the infection to your baby. Certain medicines, illegal drugs, and alcohol can also pass through the breast milk and cause harm to your baby.
Some women choose not to breastfeed, maybe as a lifestyle choice or through choosing to return to work. There are others who are simply physically unable to do so due to an existing physical condition which may prevent them, even if they wanted to.
Funsho and Mom: Mother knows best…I know!
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