Menstruation– a Taboo– The stupity of the kuffar

Below is an interesting article which shows once again the stupity of the kuffar regarding their ignorance and false religions.

I remember well how my mother welcomed my womanhood. Not well.

When I became a women through the natural system of haidh, still kafir then, I was scarred to death,  being then just 11 years old.

But due to the sexual filth education and growing up shamelessly , even to become a hypocritical atheist, gave some resources to read  and talk to fellow class mates and their mothers ,outside the home without having to tell your mother.

Gladly a class mate had her menses already and was told by the teacher (as it was right in the morning during class) to take me home to her to change clothe and to get everything i needed to take care of this situation

My dear mom, despite being western educated and HAVING had access to many medical related resources taught me the same NONSENSE.

Once I called my mother through the phone that IT came was very disappointed to feel and hear how she felt regarding me becoming a women now!

Never ever did she talk about this issue to me before to prepare me for this Event .

So I was kept literally in the dark and being embarrassed to be a girl and to become a women. I hated it.

She hated it, she verbally showed her disappointment and kept letting me know and feeling it. My class mates then, I remember told me how nicely their mothers embraced them  saying: Congrats , You are a young lady now.

NOT in our home. Me and her were the only females in our family.

For her now the times of cuteness and shameless clothing and letting her daughter run around naked, playing with boys were over.

Now she can get pregnant!!

So I , in “highly educated” Germany grew up believing my mother the same baqwas!

she taught me that I can never touch any living being, food, plants as II would poison it and transmit disease due to my menses. I was prohibited from taking a bath as the water will turn toxic. I should  feel ashamed etc…

literally stay away from others , plants, food , animals, public baths.etc..

But loh.

When i studied medicine to become a nurse and reading the so called teenage magazine “Bravo” I discovered the nonsense she believed in and taught me with conviction being right and me so stupid.

She had been raised by her catholic grandparents and attended catholic religious classes and turned so becoming an atheist witnessing all the idol worship of joseph and maria and the hate for women, girls, male dominance, etc.

Respect and mercy toward minors, women, elders is not shown in this false religion , as well as in others religions besides Islam.

My mother always complained how her catholic male teachers beat her up ( and other children) in front of the whole class pulling down the pants to hit with a can, or being hit on the finger tips while the hand were laid on the school desk..

So if church raises you this way inside and outside the school, than one does not have to wonder about many issues here.

It needed Islam to see the truth.

Only in Islam Women are elevated and seen as human beings having rights.

While in Christianity,Bhudism, Hinduism, Judaism Women and Girls are always seen as inferior, burden, being killed because of the sex, having no right of own living places, ownership,inheritance, right to speak…etc.

In fact in Christianity Women are processions of their fathers, husbands,

A husband can do whatever he intends to do with her , HE can sell her  she does not have a right to speak up, inherit , etc,

Islam on the other hand teaches us throgh the noble Prophet Muhammad , saalaaahu alyhi wa sallam, and  beloved mothers , Te Mothers Of The BELIEVERS  how wonderful girls and women are.

hen Aisha, radiallaahu anhu, had her menses and he , sallaahu alyhi wa sallam , requested her to comb his hair, she commented that she head menses and so was impure. So the master salaalaahu alayhi wa sallam stated simply: What. Do you bleed in your hands?

Ther are numerous narrations which showed how human Nabi , sallaaahu alayhi wa sallam, treated woman and girls and showed that they have a right to speak up, to inherit, have their own processions, can do jobs , can drink and eat from the same utensil, can share food and the nsame bed, can read books, touch etc…

Islam taught me how precious it is to be a woman, having girls and raise them, with intelligence and shame while learning myself to kick the myths  regarding the menstruation , which are in fact Jewish believes and conquered all then ignoramuses in the world,in the bin.

In the Jewish and christian belief( and others), one should check their books, women had to leave the homes and live near the forest or at least had to live  outside the home in a separate rooms when having their menses.

They were not allowed to interact with the rest of the society and had to kindle a fire or put a certain colored cloth as a flag out to signal that they were clean.

Women were not allowed to touch anything, not even to drink out the same utensil..etc..

I will post Insha Allah one day what their religions say in regards of all this…

<nyt_headline version=”1.0″ type=”

“>The Taboo of Menstruation

<nyt_byline>

By ROSE GEORGE

Sroop Sunar

Connect With Us on Twitter

For Op-Ed, follow@nytopinion and to hear from the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, follow@andyrNYT.

KHUSHI knew it was cancer. Ankita thought she was injured. None of the girls knew why they were suddenly bleeding, why their stomachs were “paining,” as Indian English has it. They cried and were terrified and then they asked their mothers. And their mothers said, you are normal. You are menstruating. You are a woman now.

But that is not all. The girls, whose names I’ve changed here for the sake of their privacy, were also told: when you menstruate, don’t cook food because you will pollute it. Don’t touch idols because you will defile them. Don’t handle pickles because they will go rotten with your touch.

Pickles, I asked Ankita? Yes, madam, she told me, in her schoolyard in rural Uttar Pradesh. My mother says it is so. Her mother believed it, and her mother before her. It must be true.

I read of another girl who said that her nail polish had spoiled because she had applied it during her period. She saw nothing weird about this.

I met Ankita and her peers in November, while accompanying a sanitation and hygiene carnival, the Great Wash Yatra, which has traveled a thousand miles across rural India. The aim of the Yatra, organized by a nonprofit called WASH United, is to spread the right messages about health and hygiene — do not defecate in the open, wash your hands with soap after the toilet and before eating — using singing, dancing, games and support from cricket players and Bollywood stars. The tactic works: all of its stalls have queues of men and boys waiting to play. All except one: a curtained tent, where only women are allowed.

This is the Menstrual Hygiene Management Lab, where girls and women can come to learn how to safely make and maintain cloth sanitary napkins (use clean cloth; dry it in the sun; iron it to remove moisture) as well as for something even more revolutionary: to talk frankly about periods.

The taboo of menstruation in India causes real harm. Women in some tribes are forced tolive in a cowshed throughout their periods. There are health issues, like infections caused by using dirty rags, and horror stories, like that of one girl who was too embarrassed to ask her mother for a clean cloth, and used one she found without knowing it had lizard eggs in it. According to one of the Yatra outreach workers, the subsequent infection meant her uterus had to be removed when she was 13. She would be forever tainted as a barren woman, so that whoever saw her first in the morning had to take a bath to wash her stain away.

But beyond superstition and discrimination, many Indian women face the straightforward lack of clean, safe lavatory facilities. Back in my high school in England, we may have been embarrassed by our periods, as most girls are, but we had clean bathroom stalls in which to change our sanitary pads in privacy, and trash bins in which to throw them.

Many students in India, where around 650 million people still lack toilets, can’t say the same. Most schools I visited had filthy latrines, used only because there was no alternative. Some had none at all. Students and teachers made do with fields and back alleys.

Concentrating on lessons when you are desperate for the bathroom is hard on anyone. It’s nearly impossible for a girl who is menstruating and has nowhere to change or dispose of her pad. Girls grow tired of dealing with it. Often their families encourage them to stay home from school and get married. In one survey, 23 percent of Indian school-age girls dropped out of school when they reached puberty.

“Girls suffer if they aren’t empowered to manage their menstrual cycle without pain and shame each month,” said Chris Williams, the executive director of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, which runs the Menstrual Hygiene Management Lab. “Their health, schooling and dignity are in the balance.” And the world suffers, too: educated women are healthier, have smaller families, often earn more and have a positive impact on development.

It can take years, even generations, to change a taboo. But anecdotally, outreach workers note that the only girls who don’t believe the superstitions about menstruation are those with educated mothers. So the best way to change the minds of future women is to keep girls in school today, and basic lavatory facilities are one of the easiest ways to do that.

Back in Ankita’s schoolyard, something revolutionary was happening. Although many male teachers in rural India are terrified that broaching the subject of menstruation will be considered inappropriate or worse, one of Ankita’s teachers was different. After attending a Yatra outreach session, he used 200 rupees (less than $4) of his own money to turn a disused latrine into a simple incinerator, which girls could use to burn their dirty cloths.

It isn’t perfect: girls still face the embarrassment of going to the incinerator with everyone knowing why. But this rudimentary construction, with its vent made from a discarded well-water pump, could have huge consequences. Not only could it bring educational salvation to Ankita and her classmates, but a better future for generations to come.

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Rose George is the author of “The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters.”

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I beat lupus with a raw food diet, says comedian Gina Yashere

I beat lupus with a raw food diet, says comedian Gina Yashere who believes she’s conquered her illness

Last updated at 10:01 PM on 27th August 2011

Pain free: Fina weights 9st 7lb and no longer suffers from the symptoms of lupus

When comedian Gina Yashere last toured Britain, she called the show Skinny B*tch. It was a typically indelicate reference to her recent dramatic weight loss, thanks to a strict regime of raw foods.

After shedding 5st, and dropping four dress sizes to a 12, she enthuses about buying skinny jeans and ‘all those clothes I wanted to wear but couldn’t’.

But for Gina, who made her name on the UK comedy circuit in the late Nineties and was a regular guest on the BBC2’s Mock The Week, losing pounds was never the goal.
It was simply a by-product of steps she has taken to conquer lupus, the debilitating disease she was diagnosed with early in 2005.

The illness, a result of the immune system turning inward and attacking itself, affects 30,000 Britons, and can be fatal in severe cases.

Sufferers include singers Elaine Paige, Seal and Lady Gaga.

There is no cure and Gina, 37, falls into the highest-risk group for developing it. Lupus is four times more likely to occur in those of African, Caribbean or Latin descent, and nine times more common in women than in men.

It is often referred to as ‘the disease with 1,000 faces’, and symptoms range from extreme fatigue, joint pain and muscle aches to anaemia, skin rashes, hair loss and organ failure.

When Gina began suffering pain in her hands and knees six years ago, at first she believed she was developing arthritis.

‘I had been feeling tired for months and my joints were aching, but then I woke one morning to find I couldn’t open my hands,’ she says.

‘My fingers were like claws and it took me half-an-hour to try to warm them up by wriggling them before they were back to almost normal.

‘I also noticed my eyes were dry and I would wake at night to find my lids stuck together. I typed my symptoms into the internet and from the search results I decided I either had arthritis or lupus, so

I went to a private doctor who gave me a blood test.’ Like Lady Gaga, Gina had an aunt who was thought to have died from lupus. She was not diagnosed until after her death, aged 58, due to lack of awareness of the illness.

Different: Gina looks almost unrecognisable after her dramatic weight loss which has left her feeling healthier

By the time she was rushed to hospital the condition had destroyed her vital organs and it was too late for doctors to save her.

Professor David Isenberg, director of Rheumatology at University College Hospital, London says the causes of the disease are not fully understood.

‘Lupus can result in a wide range of symptoms similar to arthritis, anaemia or multiple sclerosis, so it can be hard to diagnose.

‘Sometimes it flares up after a viral infection and in many cases it begins with a nasty rash on the face or skin.’ Indeed, at first, doctors believed Gina had arthritis, and she was referred to a rheumatologist at St Thomas’ Hospital, London. Further tests confirmed lupus. ‘Despite what happened to my aunt, I was relieved when I found out because there’s not much you can do about arthritis,’ she says.

‘I knew we had caught it early before it spread to my organs and so I could start taking medication to bring it under control.’

‘Lupus can result in a wide range of symptoms similar to arthritis, anaemia or multiple sclerosis, so it can be hard to diagnose.’
Gina Yashere

Once lupus develops it usually follows a cycle – the symptoms flare up followed by a remission that can vary in length from weeks to years.

Treatment consists of anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and steroids. For severe symptoms, the drug hydroxychloroquine can be used, which also dampens inflammation but comes with the risk of side effects including nausea and extreme tiredness.
At first steroid injections brought Gina’s symptoms under control, but in the summer of 2005 she suffered a relapse after travelling to the Middle East. According to Prof Isenberg, lupus can be exacerbated by exposure to sunlight.

When Gina returned she was suffering regular migraines, her knees were inflamed and her neck and shoulders were aching. She was given more steroids and hydroxychloroquine.

‘But I hated the side effects, which meant I put on weight,’ she says. ‘I had good and bad days and I was not very good at remembering my tablets so my symptoms fluctuated a lot.’

Finding it painful to bend her knees or even put her arms over her head, she was unable to exercise. Gina’s weight ballooned from 10st to 15st. ‘But then I saw a TV show called Celebrity Detox,’ she says.

Famous sufferers: Both Lady Gaga and Seal have spoken publicly about lupus

‘Everyone was saying how amazing they felt after doing it, so in 2007 I flew to Thailand to the same clinic for a week of fasting and colonics. I lost a stone in a week and felt much better.

‘When I came back I changed my diet to just raw fruit and vegetables and with my symptoms getting easier, I cut down on my medication.

‘Two years ago I stopped taking pills altogether. I am now 9st 7lb and my symptoms have virtually gone. My wrists and fingers still ache sometimes and there are some yoga moves I can’t do, but I have thrown away my raised toilet seat.’

Gina, who moved from Wood Green, North London, to Los Angeles in 2007, doesn’t have her condition monitored in the US because her health insurance won’t cover it.

But when performing in the UK she visits St Thomas’ where doctors check her heart and kidneys, which can be affected by lupus.

Prof Isenberg warns: ‘It is possible for patients to go for years without symptoms.

‘Lupus is always active and there is no proof that diet is an effective treatment.

‘What works for one sufferer might not for another. If a patient has found relief, we can only hope it lasts.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2030838/I-beat-lupus-raw-food-diet-says-comedian-Gina-Yashere-believes-shes-conquered-illness.html#ixzz1WOXLEdif

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Women cutting their hair

Q: 

1. Is there any Quranic Verse or Narration that directly prohibits women from cutting their hair in a manner which does not resemble the non-believers or men?
2. On what basis are women prohibited from cutting their hair in a manner that does not resemble the non-believers or men?

A: In matters of Deen we are commanded to follow the Fuqaha. The Fuqaha are those experts in Deen who after carrying out an extensive and comprehensive study of the Quraan, the Mubarak Ahaadith of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) and the verdicts of the Sahaabah (with all the related sciences that are required to understand Deen), deduce the masaail of Deen and explain to the Ummah the parameters of Shariah. Hence it would be a futile exercise for the person who is not knowledgeable and completely conversant with all the above-mentioned sciences of Deen, to try and oppose their verdicts. The Fuqaha have explained in the light of Shariah that it is impermissible for a woman to cut or trim her hair. Hence, If a woman cuts her hair, she will be sinful in the court of Allah Ta’ala.

وفيه قطعت شعر رأسها أثمت ولعنت  زاد في البزازية وإن بإذن الزوج لا طاعة لمخلوق في معصية الخالق ولذا يحرم على الرجل قطع لحيته والمعنى المؤثر التشبه بالرجال اه (الدر المختار 6/407)

Answered by:

Mufti Zakaria Makada

Checked & Approved:

Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)

 

 

 

–

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Rubbing ta’weez over nude body?

Question: My wife was recently told that she is “affected”. We visited an Aamil and he gave her the following treatment: 1) ta’weez for water to drink once per day. 2) ta’weez to place in rose-water and sprinkle all over the house. 3) ta’weez (multiple photocopies) to rub over her whole “naked” body, and then to shower. This ta’weez she should burn. My question is: by knowing that a ta’weez contains a name/names of Allah (swt), and Quranic verses (and numerals based here-on), isn’t this disrespectful? Me and my wife are feeling very uncomfortable at this rubbing, so much so, that it has caused stress in our marriage. She is entering her period-time, does this mean she shouldn’t touch a ta’weez? Shouldn’t every ta’weez be handwritten (Hadith) instead of photocopied?, and shouldn’t the handwriting be flowing and neat? Sorry for having to ask you these questions, as the Aamil would not answer me, saying it’s not the right time for me to know and that the jinn would attack me. I am quite distressed and worried at his authenticity.

Answer: Ta’weez for water to drink is permissible. Ta’weez to place in rosewater and sprinkle is also valid. A woman in her periods may keep the ta’weez on her provided that it is wrapped or sewn in a cloth so that she will not directly touch it in case it has Qur’aanic verses written on the paper. Photocopies are also valid although, in our opinion, it is better to write the ta’weez by hand. It is also permissible to burn a ta’weez. We have strong reservations about rubbing the ta’weez on the naked body of the female if the ta’weez has Allah’s Name or Qur’aanic verses written on it. This item of the amal should not be practised. Tell the aamil to prepare something else instead of having to rub the naked body with the ta’weez on which is written Allah’s Name. If the ta’weez contains only numerals, then it may be rubbed on the naked body. May Allah Ta’ala grant the sister a complete cure. May He remove the misfortune/evil which is afflicting her. She should make dua in abundance and also recite the three Qul Surahs and Aayatul Kursi in abundfance. If Allah Ta’ala wills, He grants shifa without ta’weezez.   majlis ulema south africa

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Wrong and dangerous birthing and labor positions–especially in Pakistan’s maternity wards

Positioning for Prevention

What image comes to mind when you picture a birth in a hospital?

Most people see a picture of a woman on her back, with her legs raised or perhaps in stirrups. That is the perception that the technological model of birthing has transfixed into our mind’s eye.

The obvious problem is that by lying on one’s back or by sitting semi-reclined on one’s tailbone, the space of the pelvic outlet (birth canal) may be reduced by up to 30%. By adopting a traditional hospital position that is convenient for birthing professionals, one unknowingly reduces the space the baby has to enter this world.

There is no medically sound reason to give birth on one’s back, and there is every reason to give birth in a safer position that works with female anatomy and physiology, in a way that women’s bodies were designed.

It is so easy to open up the birthing canal to help ensure a safer passage for the baby, and to reduce the risk of injury to the mother’s body as well.

By simply rolling over to one’s side, which can be easily accomplished, even with an epidural, allows the sacrum the freedom to move back as the baby is passing through.

What is most important to remember is to get the mother off her back!

Changing positioning during the first and second stages of labor can dramatically reduce the incidence of shoulder dystocia, and thus eliminate the resulting complications
Risks of Traditional Positioning

With positions that close the birthing canal, such as lying down, there may be increased risk to the baby of:

* increased need for forcep or vacuum delivery
* broken clavicle/collarbone
* excessive bruising
* pressure on baby’s neck vertebras
* excessive head molding
* compression of umbilical cord
* stress on baby
* poor position/angle of the fetus in relation to the pelvis
* brachial plexus injury
* broken humerus
* disruption of the baby’s oxygen supply

and increased risk for the mother of:

* less effective contractions
* labor slowing and not progressing
* possible increased hypotension & pregnancy-induced hypertension
* ineffective pushing
* may lead to illusion of cephalo-pelvic disproportioin due to reduced pelvic diameters from poor positioning
* increased risk of need for Cesarean section
* strain and tearing to the mother’s tissues
* episiotomy
* back pain
* fractured coccyx/tailbone

Janet Balaskas, the recognized pioneer of natural childbirth and author of “Active Birth” reiterates the danger of being in a supine position:

“In the semisitting position the mother’s weight rests on her coccyx and the pelvic capacity is reduced.” “In the semireclining position the sacrum is immobile and the pelvic outlet narrows.” “Your coccyx is designed to move out of the way as your baby’s head descends. Sitting on your coccyx during birth restricts the pelvic outlet and can also lead to dislocation of the coccyx, which can be extremely painful for months after the birth.”

The sacrococcygeal joint, the joint between the sacrum and the coccyx or tailbone, also softens in pregnancy; it is designed to swivel backwards to widen the outlet of the pelvis as the baby emerges. Of course, this is impossible if the mother is sitting on her coccyx.
Benefits of Proper Positioning

Opening the birth canal by using positions that support a woman’s anatomy, will decrease the risk of possible trauma to the baby and mother’s body. .Moving around during labor and using birthing positions such as left side-lying, hands and knees, upright, squatting, etc. offer several benefits:

* increased comfort
* reduced pain
* an enhanced sense of control and involvement in the birth
* more effective contractions
* better progression of labor
* baby more likely to descend in an optimal position
* work with gravity instead of against it
* better blood and oxygen supply to the baby

Beyond these advantages, there are equally important effects on the baby and on the progress of labor. Changing positions during labor can change the shape and size of the pelvis, which can help the baby’s head move to the optimal position during first stage labor, and helps the baby with rotation and descent during the second stage.

Swaying motions such as walking, climbing stairs, lunging, and swaying back and forth are especially helpful with this.

Movement and upright positions can help with the frequency, length, and efficiency of contractions. The effects of gravity can help the baby move down more quickly. Changing positions helps to ensure a continuous oxygen supply to the fetus.

“There is evidence to suggest that if the mother lies flat on her back then vena caval compression is increased, resulting in hypotension. This can lead to reduced placental perfusion and diminished fetal oxygenation. The efficiency of uterine contractions may also be reduced”. (Humphrey et al. 1974, Kurz et al. 1982)

Changing position can also reduce the length of labor. Mendez-Bauer and Newton (1986) state that duration of labor from 3 to 10 cm cervical dilation was about 50% shorter in patients who alternated supine and standing with standing and sitting positions.

Another positive outcome from positioning is the reduction of the use of episiotomies and fourth degree tears. Since there will be less dystocias, doctors will not feel inclined to cut the perineum, to give more manipulation room. These have been done for many years without anatomical reason, but more so for legal record.

An ideal position would include:

* opening the pelvic outlet as widely as possible
* providing a better fetal position with a smooth path for the baby to descend through the birth canal
* using the advantages of gravity to help the baby move down
* giving the mother a sense of being safe and in control of the process
* and most importantly, decreasing the risk of injury to the baby and to the mother

http://www.ubpn.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=67&Itemid=68

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Childbirth Positions: Giving Birth On Your Back Is Just NOT COOL!

It amazes me everyday to see and hear about  women who lay flat on their back while giving birth!

http://naturalchildbirthworld.com/childbirth-positions/

Sadly, though it’s not their fault – it’s what they’re TOLD TO DO! Seriously, it goes against basic anatomy!!! …

You see our birth canal is actually shaped like a “J” … not a straight line (see diagram on the right) … The baby doesn’t just slide straight down and out. It comes down, then up and over the pelvis.

Look at the picture carefully and you’ll understand how that works. Actually, it seems utterly crazy to lay flat on your back with your legs up = expecting the baby to come out at all!

In fact, choosing to lie on your back as your main childbirth positions closes up your pelvic area by about 30%.

Plus if you think about it – you’ll also have gravity working against you. This means when you’re trying to push bub out, you’re pushing down and then UP before he comes out – Can anyone say CRAZY!!!!!

Plus, who the hell wants to do more work than they have to??? – Giving birth is enough of an effort by itself without some idiot telling you to lay flat on your back and open your legs!

** SIDE NOTE FOR CHOOSING CHILDBIRTH POSITIONS

If it feels natural for you and you WANT to lay flat and give birth to your baby that way, then go for it – do what is best for you. But I can suggest a positions that may be easier for you. If you’re a little apprehensive about how you’ll look in those positions – TRUST ME – You won’t care on the day!

So here’s a few childbirth positions you may want to try:

(NOTE: You may want to lie on your back or try other childbirth positions during labor, which can take a few hours, but these positions are to help you specifically in the “Birthing” or “Pushing” phase)

1) Squatting – You can do this on the floor, on a bed, in a birthing pool and use whatever support is necessary ie. bed head, hubby, doula etc. Women who use this position report feeling in control and comfortable in this position. It can help shorten the length of the birth canal, so the baby comes out easier – WOOHOO!

2) All 4′s – Many women (myself included) find getting down on your hands and knees is one of the most natural childbirth positions . It certainly helps in terms of gravity and also opens your hips wide, meaning there’s less pressure on you and your baby.

This can be done on a bed, mats on the floor, in the water or leaning over something like a yoga ball or bed head.

3) Kneeling – Some wome kneel on cushions or on a bed. They can be supported by draping their arms around their partners neck or leaning into a pile of pillows.

4) Lying On Side – Some women find they want to turn to the side to birth their baby. This is completely natural and can be assisted, by the birth partners lifting one of her legs to create enough space for the baby.

5) Birthing Stool – Specially made stools have been used for giving birth for centuries. They are shaped for the mother to sit on and then she is usually supported by her birth partner and/or midwives.  Some women find squatting too tiring on their legs, so a birthing stool is definitely helpful in this regard.

Tracey Rose is a journalist, natural childbirth educator, mother of two and author of “How To LOVE Your Labour: One Woman’s Journey From Freaking Out To Fearless Birth”

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Breast feeding is best!

Breastfeeding Week: Do what’s best for your baby, say docs 
Posted By Our Correspondent On Aug 5, 2012 (1:35 AM) In Sindh

KARACHI: Doctors and experts hashed out the age-old debate on whether breast milk or bottle milk is better for a baby at the International Breastfeeding Week Seminar, organised by the Sindh health department and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Friday.

The indicators of breastfeeding are extremely low in Pakistan, said the World Food Programme manager, Dr Durre Shehwar Khan. She said that breast milk not only provides nutrition, hydration and protection against infection and allergies for the babies, but is also beneficial for the mothers.

Dr Shehwar said that mothers should start breastfeeding the baby within one hour of birth and continue to do so till six months of age as it meets all dietary requirements of the baby. She added that it is also proven that babies who are breastfed are more confident, and have a greater IQ.

Dispelling the myths about breastfeeding, Dr Shehwar said that it is wrong to say that malnourished mothers should not follow the practice or that the mother should stop feeding if the baby has diarrhea.

Dr Yasir Ehtesham from UNICEF opposed artificial feeding, saying that it is not sterile, it is costly in time, resources and care, and is more dangerous as difficulties in cleaning the bottle could lead to infections.

Dr Shehwar said that the government of Pakistan passed the ordinance of children’s nutrition for the protection and promotion of mother’s milk in 2002 and in 2009 which states that no product can be advertised as a substitute to mother’s milk.

But there is no strict implementation in Pakistan and ads of baby supplements and cereals can be seen everywhere, she pointed out.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2012.

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Bottle-feeding might turn your baby into a sitting duck for a number of diseases, say doctors

 
Posted By Our Correspondent On Sep 1, 2012 (4:36 AM) In Sindh

KARACHI: While most Pakistani parents cannot afford to fork out Rs8,400 to have their toddlers inoculated against rotavirus – which causes most diarrhoea cases – it can be kept at bay by something that doesn’t cost a single paisa: breastfeeding.

At a session on childhood diseases organised on Thursday at the Sheraton Hotel by the public service unit of the Health Awareness Society, doctors banished misconceptions about rotavirus and told the audience how it could be prevented. The virus causes 125 million bouts of diarrhoea in children under five globally – around 85 per cent of the cases occur in developing countries like Pakistan. It kills between five and 10 million children on the planet each year.

The virus damages the intestines and prevents the absorption of essential nutrients and water, leading to dehydration and ultimately, death. Symptoms include vomiting and frequent, loose motions followed by fever. A child might die within a week if the virus is not treated. Children under the age of two can contract the virus several times until their immune system becomes powerful enough to fend it off. Bottle-feeding and poor hygiene were deemed as the main factors behind rotavirus as well as a whole host of other diseases.

Prof. MA Arif, who is associated with the National Institute of Child Health and Aga Khan University Hospital, said that diarrhea is the most common cause of child mortality in Pakistan – a trend found across the globe.

He recalled that back when oral rehydration sachets – popularly known as ORS – were not available in Pakistan, children would be strewn all over the floor of Civil hospital, waiting for some relief against a potentially fatal bout of diarrhoea.

“The disease claimed four lives each day.” He said that though a vaccine is now available to help decimate the incidence of the virus and reduce its severity anywhere between 65 and 80 per cent, even middle-income families are opting not inoculate their children.

Prof. Arif also pointed that children are less likely to fall sick in areas of the city that are relatively cleaner. “There are fewer complaints of diarrhea in Defence and Clifton as compared to Machhar Colony,” he said.

Battling ear infections

While cotton buds are often thought of as hygiene-boosting tools, using them improperly can lead to more harm than good. Dr Salman Matiullah, an associate professor at Dow International Medical College, said that an increasing number of children are being brought to him for the treatment of Acute Otitis Media, an inflammation in the middle ear. Most cases have been caused by the excessively rigorous use of cotton buds.

He said that the disease is the most common bacterial infection in children below five. The most common symptom is high-grade fever. Irritability, crying inconsolably and tugging at the ear are tell-tale signs that a baby has been infected. In such cases, the parents should have their children diagnosed.

The disease can be bacterial or viral bottle-feeding, allergy, a parental history of otitis media and prenatal smoking make babies more likely to catch it. It is also common in children with other medical conditions such as Down’s syndrome.

Dr Matiullah said that mothers should avoid cleaning their babies’ ears with cotton buds or putting oil in them. “Children, like adults, have a natural lining that prevents any dirt and even insects from entering the ear cavity.”

The infection can be treated by inserting a ventilation tube in the ear. Earlier, many people could not afford to treat their children as the tubes used to cost up to Rs2,000. But now, they can be imported from India for nearly one-tenth that price. However, more severe forms of the disease necessitates surgery.

Dr Matiullah said that prevention is more cost-effective than treatment. The flu vaccine as well as Xylitol, a sugar substitute found in chewing gums, can prevent it.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2012.

 

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