The Federal Ministry of Health says in spite of the health and economic benefits of exclusive breastfeeding to mother and child, only 24 per cent of infants are exclusively breastfed in Nigeria.
The Assistant Director, Nutrition Division, Family Health Department in the ministry, Mrs Chimay Thompson, disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Abuja.
Thompson said exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life without water, infant formula, liquid or food had proven to save lives, improve women and children’s health and boots lifelong productivity.
She said Nigeria is predominantly a breastfeeding nation with 97 per cent compliance.
However, Thompson said millions of mothers and infants were now losing the benefits as only about 23.7 per cent of infants less than six months were exclusively being breastfed.
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