TheCable

Grandmothers are capable of breastfeeding babies if they are willing, John Egbuta, a doctor and consultant nutritionist, has said.

Egbuta, who works with the United Nation’s office in Lagos, said this in an interview with NAN.

“It is very possible. We have mothers who are even up to 60 years old, who have had to start a re-lactation process, to recover the ability to produce breast milk under some kind of tutelage,” he said.

“With a bit of training, that woman can begin to produce breast milk again. First, there has to be a willingness, passion, and commitment towards the survival of that baby (that needs to be breastfed).”

Noting that breast milk is actually produced from the brain, Egbuta explained that when the person who is going to start breastfeeding develops passion, willingness and love for the child that needs to be breastfed, the brain’s hormones have the ability to change the woman’s orientation.

“And before you know it, the breast begins to produce milk again. So, unless there is no willingness on the part of that grandmother, breastfeeding is possible.”

The consultant explained that there was no harm in a woman breastfeeding another woman’s baby.

However, he advised any woman willing to breastfeed another’s child to ensure that she is certified healthy and free of any form of infection.

“If it is something to become conventional, we must establish that this mother does not carry an infection because that kind of infection has the ability to destroy both the baby and the mother.

“So, we need to establish that this mother is healthy enough before she can start breastfeeding other children.”