Nalugo has discovered the real benefits of breastfeeding, which she wants to share with other mothersBy Carol Natukunda
HER maternity leave was tormenting. Each day that passed, Josephine Nalugo,30, wondered what she would do when her baby finally arrived. Would she abandon the baby for the sake of her job or would she resign and breastfeed?
Days went by, the baby came, but even on the last day of her leave, she had not made up her mind. That was way back in 2004.
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“I called my boss and asked for two more days, but even those ended very fast,” she recalls, anxiety darting across her face. And so, come the D-day. She had to go to work, painfully though. Still, all she could think of was her baby, her first child.
A few days later, she made a decision: she had to be bold and tell her boss that she needed permission to work half day!
“I knew I was going to be fired. Half day? Remember a company could substitute you. Some one out there is willing to work the whole day, so I knew she would tell me: ‘Pack up and go’. But I was ready for anything, because although I wanted the job, I also wanted to breastfeed my baby.
”Fortunately, her boss was very understanding and for the next two months Nalugo was allowed to work from noon upto 5:00pm.
But her woos were far from over. At three months or so, the baby still needed to breastfeed. And this time, she would not dare bring up another excuse or else she would be fired. She started her baby on infant formula and fresh milk. The baby did not like it. The mother in her kept on telling her to taste the blend, a taste she, too, did not like. She could not blame the baby. By hook or crook, she still knew she had to breastfeed her baby.
“I decided to express the milk using my hands. I would then leave it in the fridge, so she could be fed while I was away. Sometimes I would express up to 250ml. I learnt of the breast pump, but I was not comfortable with it.”
Nalugo did just that until at seven months when her baby refused to breastfeed. But her experience of being torn between work and breastfeeding had made big impact in her heart. She got to understand what mothers go through, and developed a strong desire to do something for them.
She thus launched a mothers’ support group back in her village in Nkokonjeru, Mukono district. The group started with 14 village women, but has now grown to 33. They meet at least twice a month at Nalugo’s home, to share their experiences and problems they faced during breastfeeding.
With help from the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Association (WABA), Nalugo invites specialists in primary health care and nutrition, to teach and inspire the women to breastfeed. They use manuals such as the Infant and Young Child Feeding cards from the Ministry of Health, World Health Organisation and UNICEF to educate the women.
Through her own efforts and meagre savings, Nalugo buys exercise books and pens for the women, so that those who can read and write can take notes. She also organises free lunches for participants during the meetings, and small gifts like a kilo of sugar per woman. The women do not pay any membership fee.
And, with this, Nalugo has touched many hearts.
“There was a time I didn’t know what to do. As a village woman, you have to cook, fetch water, you have little food to eat, and then because you are working hard and not eating, you do not have enough breast milk,” says a 36-year-old mother of five.
“But now I have learnt that the doodo (green vegetables) I used to despise is what can help me. You see, we lament a lot, yet we do not make use of the gifts of nature in our backyard. Now I have enough breast milk.”
“When my son had just started eating, I would buy mandazi (drop scones) for him. My nurse used to advise me to give him eggs, but I thought that as wastage of money. After all, an egg is too small to satisfy the baby. But Nalugo has taught me that it is not about the quantity but the quality — giving the child basic nutrients,” another woman says.
Nalugo is happy she has not met much resistance. “This is a constant reminder that breastfeeding is a big issue that affects mothers. They are yearning to know the facts. Some come with an I-don’t-care attitude, but when you tell them they can make a difference in preventing infant mortality, they listen,” she says.
Another thing that is encouraging is that the women have eventually learnt to think big. They have opened up a piggy bank where they save sh100 (one hundred) each regularly. They have also started income-generating activities like weaving baskets, poultry-keeping and vegetable-growing.
Nalugo feels workplaces need to give mothers a chance to breastfeed.
“Let there be a small room where mothers can go and breastfeed their babies,” she says. “But women also need to talk. Maybe we only lamenting, but never bring our issues to management.”
For her second child, Nalugo has had to bring her along at the Community Based Rehabilitation Alliance, where she works. The maid sits with the baby somewhere so that the mother can breastfeed anytime. And already she has seen a big difference between her first baby, who breastfed for a few months and her second child who she intends to breastfeed until three years.
“My first baby fell sick frequently, but the second one has not fallen sick at all. Besides, I have also saved a lot of money. Imagine if I were to buy all those SMA (infant formula) tins (a tin costs between sh20,000 and sh26,000 and the baby, depending on age and appetite may consume three to six tins a week), how much would I have spent? I have also bonded well with my child.”
On Devember 10 and 11, Nalugo will hold an exhibition on breastfeeding at the Post Office Gallery in Kampala. The exhibition will highlight the role of breastfeeding in reducing infant mortality rates in Uganda.
The exhibition will feature a video on how to breastfeed in the first hour of birth, feeding infants from 6-24 months, and feeding expectant and breastfeeding mothers. Others issues to be discussed include the advantages of breast milk, infant formula and cup feeding, among others.
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By Curtis Lum, The Honolulu Advertiser
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