Exclusive breastfeeding still a challenge in Nigeria- Expert

Ms. Uju Onuorah, a nutritionist and dietician, says many Nigerian mothers face significant challenges in practicing exclusive breastfeeding.

Speaking with newsmen on Thursday in Abuja, as part of the 2025 World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) commemorations, Onuorah pointed to cultural beliefs, family pressure, workplace limitations, and food insecurity as major obstacles.

The 2025 theme, “Prioritise Breastfeeding: Create Sustainable Support Systems,” underscored the vital role of breast milk in child survival, growth, and healthy development.

Onuorah explained that some traditional beliefs, such as giving babies water or early herbal mixtures, undermined exclusive breastfeeding.

Others include pressure from family members to introduce solids early and a lack of time and privacy, especially for working mothers.

“Nutritionally, some mothers worry that their diets are inadequate to produce enough milk, especially in food-insecure households.

“Practically, lack of privacy and supportive facilities in public or at work can make breastfeeding difficult,” she said.

Overcoming these barriers, she noted, requires both education and structural support.

Nutritionists, she said, can play a key role by reassuring mothers that even modest diets can produce nutritious milk.

“They can also guide them toward affordable, locally available foods that nourish both mother and child.

“Practical measures such as breastfeeding-friendly workplace policies, community support groups, and the engagement of family members, especially grandmothers and partners, can help protect and encourage exclusive breastfeeding.

“Cultural practices must evolve to support rather than hinder infant nutrition.”

Onuorah also emphasised the role of government in enabling breastfeeding through stronger enforcement of the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes and expansion of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.

She added that mandated maternity leave, provision of lactation spaces, and public breastfeeding protections were also critical to supporting nursing mothers.

“When emotional encouragement, practical help, and accurate information, along with government engagement, are consistently available, mothers are far more likely to sustain exclusive breastfeeding for the full six months.”

In food-insecure communities, Onuorah stressed that proper maternal nutrition was vital.

“While mothers can still produce quality milk on a limited diet, their own health may suffer, impacting long-term breastfeeding success.”

She recommended adequate intake of calories, protein, iron, calcium, vitamin A, iodine, and B vitamins to maintain milk supply, support recovery after childbirth, and prevent fatigue and illness.

Nutritionists, she said, should guide mothers toward nutrient-rich, locally available foods such as leafy greens, legumes, small fish, groundnuts, fortified grains, and seasonal fruits.

“Strategies like kitchen gardens, small-scale livestock farming, or community food-sharing can also support maternal nutrition.

“Reliable access to clean water is essential. Strengthening the mother’s diet and health, even with modest resources, significantly increases the chances of sustaining exclusive breastfeeding and supporting healthy infant growth.”

On galactagogues, foods and supplements believed to boost milk flow, Onuorah explained that common examples included fenugreek, moringa, fennel, oats, millet, pap, pepper soup, legumes, and fluids.

“These work by nourishing the mother and, in some cases, stimulating lactation hormones.”

However, she cautioned against unregulated use of herbal supplements.

“While galactagogues can help, they should be used under professional guidance. Natural cooked foods are safer.

“But beyond food, the most effective way to increase milk supply remains frequent breastfeeding, proper latching, and skin-to-skin contact.”

She added that persistent low milk supply might point to deeper issues such as stress, hormonal imbalances, poor technique, or postpartum complications.

Supreme news reports that Nigeria’s exclusive breastfeeding rate remains stagnant at 29 per cent.

Although more than 90 per cent of Nigerian mothers breastfeed, the rate of early initiation had declined.

According to data from the 2023–2024 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), it dropped from 42 per cent in 2018 to 36 per cent in 2023.

The report also revealed that only 23 per cent of babies in Nigeria are breastfed up to the recommended age of two years, signaling troubling trends in optimal infant feeding practices.