By Stella Kabruk

Some neonatal doctors have advised the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to encourage more local production of infants formula as alternative to expensive imported ones.

They gave the advice in a communiqué in Kaduna, after a sensitisation workshop for neonatal doctors on the International Code for Marketing of Breast Milk Substitute and national regulations.

The communiqué was signed by Dr Lamidi Audu and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday.

The doctors said support was needed to ensure breastfeeding was promoted in health institutions while urging donors, stakeholders, and governments at all levels  to provide the support.

They also recommended that breast milk banks be created to aid children who had no immediate access to breast milk whenever there were delays in flow of breast milk.

‘’If mothers are chronically sick and unable to feed their children or when a nursing mother dies leaving behind a young child, some babies have difficulty adapting to the introduction of complementary feeds at the end of exclusive breastfeeding,” the doctors noted.

The doctors also expressed the need for more trainings and sensitisations on the importance of the code on breast milk for all stakeholders.

According to them, selected hospitals should be identified and re-designated as Baby Friendly Hospitals.

“Persons who work as partners to Save the Children must uphold the highest regards for children and not do anything that will harm them,” they said. (NAN)