Bottle feeds linked to smoking later in life, experts say

Nutrition experts have warned that infant bottle-feeds are likely to result in them becoming smokers at adult stage.

Ahead of the onset of the World Breastfeeding Week, starting today, the experts are quoting studies that were done in some countries, several decades ago.

This is even as latest statistics show that many infants in Kenya do not start breastfeeding within the first hour of birth.

Purity Kibe, a nutrition specialist at the Ministry of Health yesterday revealed that the shield of a pacifier may hide infants’ emotion expressions, and when this is suppressed for a long time, it’s likely to lead to mental breakdown.

Become introverts

“Let’s not use pacifiers,” she pleaded with parents and infant caregivers, also highlighting that when these infants become adults they are likely to be involved in a number of vices including, becoming introverts, engage in drug and substance abuse, easily irritated and when they can’t solve simple tasks, may resort to suicides.

Other adverse effects resulting from the engagement of facial muscles by the pacifier may disrupt the infants’ ability to produce facial expressions, therefore, meaning that one may not detect their emotional status.

Kibe, a Program Officer at the Ministry of Health’s Nutrition and Dietetics Division, called on collaborative efforts among stakeholders to close gaps in breastfeeding support in order to reduce inequalities.

“The advantages of breastfeeding outweigh the disadvantages occasioned by not initiating infants to breast milk, one hour after delivery, exclusive breastfeeding and two years and beyond,” she said during a media sensitisation on breastfeeding.

Timely breastfeeding

Currently, only 60 per cent of infants are initiated to breastfeeding within an hour of delivery.

Of those women who are delivered by a skilled health professional, one third of them are not supported to initiate timely breastfeeding.

“Furthermore disparities exist within regions with Vihiga County having the highest rate of early initiation to breastfeeding at 87.2 per cent and neighbouring Kisumu, with the lowest at 21.5 per cent,” she said, also calling on parents and infant caregivers to stop bottle feeding because of the many disadvantages associated with it. “Some studies done abroad have shown that infants who are bottle-fed, are more likely to transition into smoking at their adolescence,” she said, explaining that the studies showed that because they were not used to having something stuck in their mouth, they will easily have smoking as a substitute for the bottle.

Latest findings show that currently, fewer children are being breastfed as recommended.

“To protect, promote and support breastfeeding, more work is needed to tackle the persistent challenges,” said Laura Kiige, a nutrition specialist working with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Kenya country office.