Doha: The importance of breastfeeding for the health and development of infants was explained at the latest instalment of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar’s (WCM-Q) Ask the Expert series.
Breastfeeding expert Dr Mohammed Ilyas Khan of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) was invited to make a presentation at the public event at Diplomatic Club as part of WCM-Q’s Sahtak Awalan: Your Health First campaign.
The campaign is five-year initiative to encourage members expat and Qatari communities to make healthy lifestyle choices.
Dr Khan stressed that breastfeeding should not be viewed as a supplement to a baby’s diet, but as the basis of proper infant nutrition.
Breast milk contains nutrients essential to the healthy development of babies, including proteins, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and fats. It also contains anti-infective components, important hormones and special enzymes that aid digestion and absorption of nutrients.
He said: “There is no better form of nourishment for infants than their mother’s milk, which provides all nutritions babies need and it is our duty as health professionals to encourage and support mothers to breastfeed their children.
“While formula can provide basic nutrition, nothing is better for baby than his or her mother’s milk. For example, special fatty acids breast milk contains are optimal for healthy development and growth of the infant brain.”
Dr Khan is a Maternal and Child Health Specialist and a certified and registered Lactation Consultant at Breastfeeding Management, a regionally and internationally-recognised resource centre. He has also won Star of Excellence Honourable Mention award.
The centre provides innovative, responsive and compassionate service to achieve optimal outcomes in the science of breastfeeding for healthcare providers, mothers, babies and their families in accordance with international guidelines and protocols and achieves the highest standards of patient safety and confidentiality at HMC’s Al Khor Hospital and Al Wakra Hospital.
Dr Khan, whose centre is based in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department at Al Khor Hospital, manages the ‘Say Yes to Breastfeeding’ initiative that provides comprehensive support from a multi-disciplinary team to help mothers breastfeed their children. The initiative is Qatar’s first integrated breastfeeding management programme and based on guidelines set by World Health Organisation and Unicef.
The initiative runs a twice-weekly post-natal and daily walk-in clinic to support working mothers, first-time mothers and urgent cases, and a scheduled Lactation Management Clinic once a week at Al Wakra Hospital.
New mothers are helped with breastfeeding advice and practical care before the birth, in the crucial first moments after birth and then for as long as they need support.
Dr Khan said: “Breastfeeding is so beneficial to infants’ health that we are working hard to encourage it among all new mothers. Qatar has a very diverse population and in some cultures the habit of breastfeeding has been lost.
“We can help reintroduce it for the benefit of all newborns by strengthening the ‘Say Yes to Breastfeeding’ initiative to achieve international and national goals,” he added.The Peninsula
