Khedi Chooses Breastfeeding
A mother feeding her baby at the breast – there is something inexpressibly beautiful about that sight; something that many artists, sculptors and poets were trying to capture since the ages past. The expression ‘to take in with mother’s milk’ was often used by ancient philosophers to emphasize the firmness of qualities and views acquired from the early stages of life. Since those times humanity has come a long way thank to scientific and technical progress. Modern-day achievements in the area of medicine explained the ‘inexplicable’ and changed our entire perception about many things, yet the joy that is reflected from the face of a mother nursing her child remains all the same throughout the ages continuing to inspire many. Khedi Bogatyreva from Gamurzievo - an Ingush village in the southern part of Russia - for the first time experienced this joy when at the age of 20 she gave birth to her first child. In traditionally large Ingush families the arrival of the firstborn is usually celebrated with feasting and dancing as one would celebrate an event of almost historical importance. As a token of joy, the first child usually represents the hope that as time goes the thriving family will celebrate the arrival of his little brothers and sisters as well. Khedi delivered her baby without any complications. The young mother was taking her first steps as parent obtaining maternal skills with careful assistance of Selikhat, her mother-in-law. The first attempts to nurse the child were rather painful. The baby was either reluctant to nurse or refused the breast completely. The entire feeding process was coming along with a lot of stress. Having received insufficient amount of milk the baby would often start crying and getting upset. Emotional overload combined with sleepless nights was bringing Khedi to a state of physical exhaustion, which eventually resulted in weeks of depression. Selikhat was doing everything she could to help her daughter-in-law, but seeing that she was only getting worse asked her son to take both the mother and the child to the hospital. At the hospital entrance Khedi met one of her closest friends Aza - a young woman that she had known since childhood. Seeing the exhausted expression on Khedi’s face, Aza felt an urge to help. After a five-minute conversation she said – “You don’t need to be struggling so hard about feeding your babe with breast milk. There is plenty of milk substitutes that you baby will digest without any problems. My sisters and I didn’t have any troubles bottle-feeding our children with formula.” With that said the two made haste to the nearest drug store and bought all the necessary bottles, teats, sterilizing equipment and formulas. “I was looking at the colorfully labeled formula packs informing about the wide variety of nutrients contained in them and had little doubt that my babe was going to benefit from them” - shared Khedi. Aza lived not too far from the hospital, so she proposed her friend to arrange the first bottle-feeding session at her place. Having prepared the first feed Khedi watched how the baby emptied the bottle and soon fell asleep. Encouraged by such an obvious result the young mother decided instead of returning to the hospital to buy a few more packs of formula and head back home. During the following two months Khedi continued nursing the baby supplementing the daily milk portion with additional amounts of formula. By the end of the third month she completely replaced breast milk with formula. Likewise the next two children that were born in Bogatyrev’s family started off with breast milk and in course of the following two or three months were gradually transitioned to formula. During the winter the children were often getting sick with flu. Khedi explained it by the local damp climate never relating the frequent sicknesses of her children to their feeding regime.
When Khedi realized that she was pregnant for the forth time the news didn’t catch her off guard, because by that time she considered herself an experienced mother with a decent amount of knowledge and skills necessary to raise a child. The meantime Khedi’s husband found out that the central maternity hospital in Nazran (the Ingush capital) was accredited by UNICEF and WHO as a “Baby Friendly Hospital.” He decided that their next child should be born in that hospital. From the first moments inside the hospital Khedi felt the advertency and polite attitude of the personnel. Nice and comfortable wards helped to relax and get rid of the feeling of anxiety. Following the day of admission Khedi and her ward mate were visited by the doctor. “It wasn’t like my previous predelivery consultations, where I was striving to understand the formal language and all the medical terminology being used – shared Khedi. This was more of a conversation where I could ask questions and get clear and simple answers.” “Your breast milk like the breast milk of any other woman has a unique composition, which is changing dynamically in accordance with many factors, including your baby’s age, climate conditions, seasons and even light conditions – the doctor was explaining. That is why no formula can perfectly match your breast milk in principle.” During the predelivery stage Khedi received important recommendations on such issues as basic breastfeeding techniques, proper breast milk preservation, and breastfeeding mother’s diet. Health specialists explained to mothers how breast milk is important for growth and development of the child. Fatima Evloeva, Head Doctor Assistant bearing the functions of the UNICEF Brest Feeding Consultant in Ingushetia was among those who extended a lot of effort so that the central maternity hospital in Nazran could attain all the necessary requirements to become a “Baby Friendly Hospital.” On a bed inside the ward Khedi was thinking about how many of her friends and relatives don’t fully understand the importance of breast milk. Feeling regret she was realizing that she could have given her children a lot more, should anyone timely provided her with information on proper breastfeeding practices. “If I had the same amount of knowledge about breastfeeding during my first pregnancy, I think I would be a bit more hesitant about resorting to formula as to an easy fix, - Khedi said. I hope that my forth child receives everything necessary for his growth and development with his mother’s milk.” Three days later Bogatyrev’s family successfully increased by one more cute little family member.
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