BREASTFEEDING WHAT EVERY FAMILY AND COMMUNITY HAS A RIGHT TO KNOW (UNICEF, 2002)

• Breast milk alone is the only food and drink an infant needs for the first six months. No other food or drink, not even water, is usually needed during this period.
• There is a risk that a woman infected with HIV can pass the disease on to her infant through breastfeeding. Women who are infected or suspect that they may be infected should consult a trained health worker for testing, counseling and advice on how to reduce the risk of infecting the child.
• Newborn babies should be kept close to their mothers and begin breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
• Frequent breastfeeding causes more milk to be produced. Almost every mother can breastfeed successfully.
  Breastfeeding helps protect babies and young children against dangerous illnesses. It also creates a special bond between mother and child.
• Bottle-feeding can lead to illness and death. If a woman cannot breastfeed her infant, the baby should be fed breast milk or a breast milk substitute from an ordinary clean cup.
• From the age of six months, babies need a variety of additional foods, but breastfeeding should continue through the child's second year and beyond.
• A woman employed away from her home can continue to breastfeed her child if she breastfeeds as often as possible when she is with the infant.
• Exclusive breastfeeding can give a woman more than 98 percent protection against pregnancy for six months after giving birth - but only if her menstrual periods have not resumed, if her baby breastfeeds frequently day and night, and if the baby is not given any other food or drinks, or a pacifier or dummy.

Dr. Jacqueline L. Bird
MB:BS DCH DM(PAEDS)(UWI) CHILDHEALTH SPECIALIST
Tapion Hospital, Castries, St.. Lucia. Tel.(758)459-2223
Tapion Clinic, Bridge St. Soufriere 457-1144; Fax 459-2302: jbird@candw.lc



Risks of introducing other foods to breastfed babies before 6 months

• Foods or infant formula may be difficult for baby to eat, digest and excrete.
• Colic (unexplained fussing and crying) may be exaggerated and prolonged.
• Constipation (hard, infrequent, painful stools) often becomes a problem and may persist long after infancy.
• Babies will consume less breastmilk which means that:
• overall nutrient intake is lowered because the foods given are usually less nutritious than breastmilk, and may also reduce the bioavailability of nutrients in breastmilk (such as Iron and Zinc)
• babies receive less of the protective factors unique to mothers milk.
• breastmilk production will be reduced.
• The risk of developing allergies, eczema.,wheeze, asthma and latent heart disease increases.
• The risk and severity of diarrhoea and other infections increases because of potentially greater exposure to germs and decreased protection from breastmilk
• Early formula or mixed feeding may exaggerate Iron deficiency of infancy.
• Giving solids or other milks early interferes with the contraceptive effect of breastfeeding
• For HIV-positive mothers, the risk of transmission of HIV through breastmilk increases when the baby also receives other foods and liquids, known as "mixed feeding". This has implications especially for mothers who are unaware of their HIV status.

Exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, should be a matter of course, unless medically contra-indicated.



BE PROUD OF YOURSELF! GIVE THE BEST CHANCE AT A HEALTHY LIFE!

THE HEART AND ITS ELECTRICAL SYSTEM


The heart is divided into right and left sides. Each side has a chamber that receives blood that is returning to the heart (called atria) and a muscular chamber that is responsible for pumping blood out of the heart (called ventricles).

Blood that has traveled to parts of the body and is now oxygen poor returns to the heart and enters the right atrium. This blood is then pumped by the contraction of the rightatrium in to the right ventricle. The right ventricle in turn contracts and pumps this blood to the lungs, where it absorbs oxygen. The oxygen's rich blood then returns from the lungs to the heart and enters the left atrium, where it is pump into left ventricle. The left ventricle is the most muscular of the heart's chambers and serves as the main pumping chamber of the heart. When the muscular tissue of the left ventricle contracts blood is pumped into the aorta, the main artery of the body, which supplies blood to other arteries. Oxygen's rich blood travels through the aorta to other arteries of the body and then, in turn to the organs and tissues of the body, which require oxygen to function. Oxygen's poor blood returns from these organs and tissues through the veins back to the right atrium of the heart, and the cycle repeats itself.

The contraction of the different chambers of the heart are normally organized in a very specific manner, a special type of electrical impulse travels through the heart and sets off contractions in the chamber as it passes through the chambers.

The hearts normal spark plug is an area of specialized tissue called the SA node which is located in the right atrium. Each time this tissue fires, an electrical impulse is generated that travels first through the right and left atria, signaling these chambers to contract and pump blood into the ventricles. The impulse then travels down into another small patch of specialized tissue called the AV node, which is located between the atria and the ventricles. The electrical impulse is conducted through the AV node and then through specialized pathway into the ventricles, where it signals the ventricles to contract and to pump blood out into the lungs and through the body, the normal sequence of electrical activation of the chamber of the heart is called sinusrhythm. This sequence occurs each time the heart beats, usually about 60-80 times per minute.