Breast feeding setbacks among rural mothers

Many village women breastfeed because it is the only option they have. While breast milk strengthens the mother to child bond, it also makes the baby resistant to diseases and is remarkably nutritious. However, breastfeeding is still a paradox that has exposed remote women to unthinkable challenges. While breast feeding remains the healthiest way to nurture a new born and keep them healthy against diseases and illnesses, it remains a challenge for mothers in remote areas. As mothers mention the challenges they face while breastfeeding, they become too relevant to be ignored.When it comes to breast feeding, Alphonsine Ayinkamiye, a 28-year-old mother from Kamashangi cell, Rusizi district has seen it all. “Because of my daily errands, producing milk in my breasts is hard enough,” says Ayinkamiye. While urban women enjoy the pleasure of luxurious office jobs that pay off, the source of income for most remote women is agriculture. “As soon as the baby is four months old, a mother goes back to toil at their farming job which is tiresome and reduces the production of breast milk,” says Dativa Umutoni, another mother. Many times women will daily travel long distances, carrying children on their backs to cultivate land. “Such circumstances of hard work only make a woman miserable and worried which makes breastfeeding almost impossible,” says Yamini Nkurunziza, a Health Counselor, at Kamashangi cell in Rusizi district. Mothers also report poor feeding as a hindrance to breastfeeding. Urban areas have more options when it comes to feeding however, in remote villages, mothers are restricted to eating starchy foods such as cassava, rice, potatoes, and beans which contain more of carbohydrates. Consequently, their diets are often unbalanced, provoking the lack of breast milk. “Even accessing porridge and milk is difficult; this exposes mothers to feed less daily yet laboring in the fields is inevitable,” says Rose Kampire, another mother. When a diet is improper, at times women and babies get vulnerable to illness which makes breastfeeding even more impossible. Failure to embrace family planning in some of rural homes also affects breastfeeding. “A child should at least breast feed until they are one-year-old. For some women it’s impossible because they are always pregnant,” said Nkurunziza. Cultural beliefs are also to blame for hindering proper breastfeeding among many village women. “We take our husbands’ advice which is totally undisputable and with the case of breastfeeding, many men believe that it should end when a baby is eight months old, which we often do,” said Kampire. Women in rural villages still face challenges when it comes to deciding on the amount of breastfeeding their children should receive. lillianean@yahoo.com