When a mother is expectant, she is to take care of herself. Everything a mother does or eats will most likely affect the baby. While the baby is still in the womb a mother is to have a balanced diet and if possible take supplements. But the problem begins when expectant mothers do not stop some certain habits such as smoking, drinking alcohol due to either unawareness or thinking they know best. Such habits affect the child’s health. There is enough emphasis on a mother’s diet for the sake of the baby, which sometimes is paid no attention to. A mother ought to eat right as the child absorbs the nutrients. The actions taken at this time is meant to ensure that the baby is born in good shape and with little or no complication.
According to Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Alliance (SUN CSA), when a child is born the first 1,000 days of a child’s life can determine the future health of the child. There are certain steps that are missed nowadays because of circumstances. The working woman may avoid to breastfeed her child as she is at work or misses this step to be more flexible with her time. Breastfeeding a child is one of the most detrimental stages of a child. SUN, encourages mothers to breastfeed within 30 minutes after birth, exclusively and breastfeed their children for the first six months. In different countries laws have been passed to make it easier for mothers to bond with their children and breastfeed them as well. But many are skipping this step and prefer powder milk or pumping. Breast milk is one of the most nutritious meals a baby should have other than packet milk or powder. It has enough to calcium to strengthen bones, protein for muscle growth as well as all other nutrients that a baby needs to be well nourished.
According to Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Alliance (SUN CSA), when a child is born the first 1,000 days of a child’s life can determine the future health of the child. There are certain steps that are missed nowadays because of circumstances. The working woman may avoid to breastfeed her child as she is at work or misses this step to be more flexible with her time. Breastfeeding a child is one of the most detrimental stages of a child. SUN, encourages mothers to breastfeed within 30 minutes after birth, exclusively and breastfeed their children for the first six months. In different countries laws have been passed to make it easier for mothers to bond with their children and breastfeed them as well. But many are skipping this step and prefer powder milk or pumping. Breast milk is one of the most nutritious meals a baby should have other than packet milk or powder. It has enough to calcium to strengthen bones, protein for muscle growth as well as all other nutrients that a baby needs to be well nourished.
There are two kinds of mothers, one from the rich and from the poor. Society depicts that most deprived mothers have malnourished babies. While this may be true, with increase of knowledge and free health care I would say both mothers from different backgrounds can have a well nourished child. Well off mothers are said to have more overnutritioned babies. Remember that a nutritious diet is a balanced diet that consists of all nutrients such as protein, carbohydrate, vegetables, fruits and water. In Kenya SUN has stated that 14% of children from wealthy families are obese. Parents who are well off seem to let their children over eat and have a lot of junk food. Yet again the responsibility of nutrition seems to have been delegated to house helps without much instruction. The new tradition of having junk food as a pass time hobby has led to many complications in children. By the age of 12 many children from this group suffer from obesity and other health issues. This may lead to self image problems as well. The culture of eating unhealthy is also observed in schools whereby parent’s pack break with foods such as hotdogs and crisps. This is a form of neglect that is not seen as one but it is especially because stable parents have more information at hand. It is assumed that middle class parents going upwards know the importance of a balanced diet but ignore.
On the other hand, parents from the lower class most have malnourished children. Sometimes due to food insecurity and lack of knowledge they feed their children incorrectly. They are known to cut down important food groups from their children’s lives. There was a time no one cared about the children that belong to this social group. Nowadays there are specialists from community health programs that teach mothers on how to work within their budget. Babies are treated like adults as from a young age. They may start eating hard foods from early months or eat a very unbalanced diet. This leads to diseases such as marasmus, rickets along with other complications. Parents in this group are sometimes ignorant as there a lot of educational lessons that talk about nutrition.
Any parent would take the initiative to know about their child’s health and nutrition. The only way children will have a nutritious diet is when parents take interest in their baby’s lives from one word go. For more information you can check the Global Nutrition report here - http://globalnutritionreport.org/the-report/