Kwa-Thema Community Health Centre holds breastfeeding awareness day
The event aimed at educating new mothers on the importance of breastfeeding and sexually transmitted infections.
Kwa-Thema – New mothers joined the Kwa-Thema Community Health Centre staff on August 18 for a breastfeeding and sexually transmitted infection awareness campaign.
On the day, mothers were educated on the importance of breastfeeding, how to breastfeed their babies and advised on how this can help cut down on costs by not buying formula milk.
They also received insight on using a condom while breastfeeding can help protect their children from illness.
Community health workers demonstrated the correct ways to breastfeed and bond with a newborn baby.
Sr Thandazile Kheswa explained to the mothers what causes breast engorgement and how they can avoid this.
“Breast engorgement is when your breasts become overly full. They tend to feel hard, tight and painful. This could be due to milk coming in and the mother not feeding their new-born as much as they need to,” explained Kheswa.
She encouraged mothers to feed their babies on demand as new-borns need feeding little and often.
Also read: World Breastfeeding Week 2022: The benefits of breastfeeding
“I would recommend breastfeeding every three hours and when doing it, it is important to interchange your breasts to avoid engorgement,” she added.
The mother of a one-year-old, Juliet Mpofu, said the initiative was educative. She learned a lot, such as to pay attention when feeding your child, rather than being distracted by your phone and how to use that process to bond with her child.
The operations manager for the Mother and Child Department, Thembi Mgidi, said this was the clinic’s first awareness campaign since the beginning of Covid-19.
The event was held under the theme of ‘step-up, support and education’, which she said aims to engage and educate mothers.
“We have committed ourselves to step up, serve, support and educate our community on various health issues.
“With this campaign, we wanted to educate mothers that breast milk provides optimal nutrition for babies. It has the right amount of nutrients and is readily available.
“And to remind the community that our facility operates 24-hours and that we have Midwife Obstetric Units for pregnant women,” said Mgidi.
For enquiries, call the clinic on 011 737 9240.
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