Karnataka - Mysore   

Decline in breastfeeding in urban areas

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, SEPT. 12. There has an alarming decline in the incidence of breastfeeding in urban areas, according to Professor and Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, Mysore Medical College, Mysore, A.P. Chandrashekar.

Delivering the Dr. S.N. Kaulgud Memorial Oration on "Breastfeeding and contraception'' as part of the three-day 17th Karnataka State Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society Conference, which concluded here on Sunday, Dr. Chandrashekar cited "cultural attitudes'' among the reasons for the decline in breast-feeding incidence.

The best for infants

However, he said, breast-feeding remained the best form of not only providing nutrition to infants but also birth spacing. Breastfeeding was the oldest method of family planning known to mankind, he said.

Despite the awareness programmes on family planning in India, breastfeeding ensured spacing between births than any other form of contraception, he said.

Mr. Chandrashekar said the American Academy of Paediatrics had advocated breastfeeding for at least throughout the first year of the infant's life.

Immunity

Apart from providing sufficient nutrition to the infants, breast-feeding provided immunity against infections, countered risk of allergic disorders, cancer and coronary artery disease in the later stage.

Premature babies, who were breast-fed, turned out to be more intelligent.

In India, it was time that the health personnel, especially peripheral family planning workers, encouraged mothers to continue breastfeeding their infants for at least six months, Dr. Chandrashekar said.

HIV-infected mothers

The Principal of the Mysore Medical College, Mysore, Raghotham, said babies being delivered through Caesarean section among women infected with HIV reduced the risk of transmission of the virus to the infants.

A recent study had suggested that the rate of transmission of HIV from mother to infant was reduced by elected Caesarean section.

Hence, Dr. Raghotham felt that infected women should be counselled about the safety factor in elective Caesarean section.

But, he said, this was unlikely to reduce the risk of virus transmission if the infants born to HIV-infected women were breast-fed. This point should be borne in mind in developing countries, where nursing was mandatory for neo-natal survival, he added.

Hence, the relevance of these findings on the advantages of elective Caesarean section among HIV-infected women in developing countries such as India had been questioned. The use of combination therapy for HIV infection had a strikingly reduced rate of transmission, Dr. Raghotham said.

The conference, which began here on Friday, offered the participants a platform to discuss and deliberate a whole range of issues in obstetrics and gynaecology, including labour, dysfunction, menopause, etc. As many as 21 scientific papers were presented at the conference.

Senior obstetricians, B. Lakshmi Bai from Mysore and Meera Kamath from Dakshina Kannada, were felicitated for their contribution to the field of obstetrics and gynaecology.

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