(Zaman Al Wasl)- In Syria, war has left its mark on everything, even on the relationship between mothers and their newborns, leaving a rift between them discerned in the declining breastfeeding practice.
According to the observations of doctors in clinics and hospitals, operating in the north of Syria in particular, the reasons may vary and sometimes can be surprising. In one case, Umm Adib 29, who lives in a camp at the border, says, “After a fire broke out in my tent, my breast milk dried up when my baby was a month old. I managed to put it out with the help of the neighbors, but the scene of the fire consuming parts of my tent shocked me and affected my lactation, which stopped days later. I had to provide formula milk, although it is difficult to get. I am saddened that I can’t breastfeed my baby.”
Umm Adib’s mother explained that it was not easy to find formula milk so often, and that they had to buy it from pharmacies at very high prices.
While the world celebrates breastfeeding every year, during the World Breastfeeding Week last August, hundreds of families, including a number of nursing mothers, were forced to flee under aerial bombardment in the northern countryside of Hama and Idlib, towards the border.
Iman Mohammed, 19, said, “I was displaced from the southern countryside of Idlib with my husband, two children and a baby to the Syrian-Turkish border. Without tents or curtains, I lacked privacy and I was embarrassed to breastfeed. I was worried that it would not be possible to get formula milk for my seven-month old baby. My milk production was affected by malnutrition and the psychological stress that I experienced during the months preceding my displacement.”
Ghada Al Omari, director of the Protection Program at Watan Foundation, said, “Unfortunately, many young mothers lack the support and necessary experience for breastfeeding. The displacement and unequipped accommodation push mothers to stop breastfeeding. Therefore, advocating the issue, raising awareness of it, and emphasizing its importance to the supporters of humanitarian projects in Syria through real and documented studies is the duty of all organizations operating in northern Syria, whether local or global.”
Feeding and maintaining healthy infants has become a challenge throughout northern Syria. While World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF pediatricians recommend breastfeeding in conflict zones, there is a growing dependence on formula feeding in northern Syria.
Pediatrician Nahla Al-Saeed is concerned about the health of infants there, the list of causes is long and complicated: “Malnutrition in varying proportions along with instability influenced the quality of maternal milk. How will they be able to breastfeed if they are not eating? Formula milk advertisements contributed to the tendency towards bottle feeding, despite the faint reminder of the importance of breastfeeding during the first six months, in addition to the availability of milk containers in food basket.”
Dr. Orwa Abdullah said that the foundation has carried out a general census of malnutrition rates among pregnant and lactating mothers, who represent 8% of the Syrian society, and children under-five years, concluding that it is not yet a high public concern, but is still within low or medium concern.
Other than the deaths of mothers due to bombing, the reasons for the widening gap between the mothers and their babies appear to be more complex, extending to social reasons as well, with divorce presenting another obstacle. Legislative Court has confirmed that the rates of divorce has increased in Syria during the years of war. According to the statistics of the Palace of Justice in Damascus, the rate of divorce rose in 2017 to 31%, with 7703 cases in Damascus alone, in many of which the custody of children was disputed between the parents.
According to Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.”
Dr. Nahla confirms that, “Breastfeeding can improve a baby's psychological development and sleep quality, as well as boost their immune system. It has many benefits for the mothers as well, protecting against uterus and ovary cancers and osteoporosis, as well as reducing the chances of pregnancy by delaying ovulation, in addition to promoting a positive mental state.”
However, the programs of relief organizations lack awareness campaigns to encourage mothers to breastfeed. Some organizations, like Watan, settled for not overflowing the camps with baby bottles, only passing a limited number to the besieged areas.
Notwithstanding, the UN recommends that mothers should be given the freedom to choose whether to continue breastfeeding or not and as long as they want, and that they should not be obligated to choose between work and breastfeeding, as working mothers, who are trying to support their families, have to resort to bottle feeding.
The WHO, however, stresses that the death of 820 thousand children a year could be avoided if breastfeeding started an hour after birth and lasted for the first six months, adding supplementary food until the baby was two years old. In other words, it may be a matter of choice for the mothers, but for thousands of infants it is a matter of life and death.
(Reporting by Karima al-Said)
Zaman Al Wasl
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