It was customary, especially in the bygone midwifery period, to extract the first milk of the mother and throw away. This act was on the presumption that the first milk contains poison, and the kid may die if it drank that. In fact, the first milk contains colostrum, the best remedy to build up immunity. The breast milk is essential for nutrients and antibodies to the kids. Besides breast milk increases the intimacy of skin contact between mother and child.
Another cardinal sin is to delay the breastfeeding, thus depriving the kid the continuity of nutrition. The child gets the entire nutrient in a measured and uninterrupted dose through umbilical chord. To maintain same, the baby need be breast feed first thing after seeing the light.
Any delay in breast feeding may lead to ill health. Neonatal deaths non-breast fed babies can be a whopping 40 percent as per UNICEF study.
The fatal rate increases very high as the delay in breast feeding after birth increases.
It is ideal to feed new born only mother's milk for the first six months. The notion that wet mother can replace real mother is totally false. The proper breast feeding regime can save over eight lakhs kids. That is the highlight of the breast feeding week just commenced. However, it is heartening to note the awareness of breast feeding is catching up globally.
Still, the death rates of babies who are breast fed are on the rise. Again, the misconception of the declining beauty due to breast feeding is still prevalent. Let us not topple the law of nature by depriving the new born what she/he deserves. No liquid, including the gold paste, can replace breast milk that too from kid's mother.