Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health recommend that babies be exclusively fed up to 6 months, and supplemented with other appropriate foods up to 2 years and even beyond. This is not the case as several women especially those who have to work in enterprises are at times forced to leave their babies at home as early as 2 months, which is not appropriate for babies.
This is Cynthia Bih the 29-year-old feels guilty as she had to return to her job 3 months after and was unable to breast feed her baby. The accountant says she had no other option as she needed the money to take care of her baby.
“I know I made the wrong choice but I needed money to survive, I had to give my baby corn pap and some cereals, knowing well that her system could not easily digest it she insisted”
She went further to say the lack of breast milk makes her baby sick all the time.
“My baby is always sick; this is because she was not well breastfed. I work at times till 8pm and when I get home, I find the baby sleeping”.
Another lady narrates how after birth, when the baby was just a month old, she was forced to leave her baby with her neighbor to search for odd jobs.
“I had to leave my baby with my mom who gave her corn pap milk and potatoes, while I did some odd jobs like cleaning peoples homes to raise money to take care of my child, since the father died after putting to birth.”
She however had the option to express her breast milk and leave for the baby, but could not since the flow was not enough due to lack of food.
“You know if you want your breast milk to flow well you have to eat well, but since I had no time to eat the flow was limited.
Another lady Mrs. Jude says she is very fortunate as she had to stay at home for close to 7 months, which permitted her to properly breast feed her baby.
“I breastfed my baby for close to 7 months, I thank God for my husband who took care of us throughout that period. The best way to encourage mothers to properly breast feed for 6 months is to give them 6 months paid maternity leave, but most enterprises give just 3 months hence making it difficult for babies to be breastfed.”
In Cameroon, new mothers who have employment contract, are entitled to just one month of maternity leave.
According to women’s right activist Mrs. Evelyn, the government is not concerned about this issue and therefore not shown interest in giving longer maternity leave.
“Mothers have to be given six months paid maternity leave but this is not however the case in some ministries. Some enterprises even expect women to return to work immediately after putting to birth. We need to revise our law concerning maternity leave”.
The Ministry of public health is however working to address the situation as progress has been made by giving mothers 3 months fully paid maternity leave in some ministries.
To the World Health Organization, breastmilk is important as it offers a powerful line of defense against all forms of child malnutrition. It also acts as baby’s first vaccine, protecting them against many common childhood illnesses. Though Cameroon has a high breastfeeding rate with nearly all babies, breastfed immediately after birth, but only 60percent are properly breast fed.