A Community Health Technician, Mrs. Hellen Bulu, has advised Nigerian mothers against bathing their newborn babies with hot water and stretching their hands in an attempt to massage them.
Bulu of Family Health Clinic, Abuja, gave the advice in a lecture to mothers at an immunisation programme on Thursday in Abuja.
She said that it was typical of African women to bath their newborn with hot water and also stretch their hands without knowing the implication.
Bulu said that God who put the baby in their womb had already done the needful, adding that bathing newborn with hot water can cause a high temperature.
She advised that mothers should desist from stretching the hands of their newborns and also from bathing them with hot water.
According to her, the white people do not engage in such act yet their babies survived.
The health technician noted that such attitude was only common to Africans.
Bulu also advised mothers to breastfeed newborns rather than apply hot water when the baby’s body experienced high temperature.
According to her, the more you breastfeed the baby, the more the temperature comes down.
“If the baby’s body swells up do not apply hot water or rob, just keep looking at the baby’s body, it will come down after a while,’’ said the expert.
She, however, said that if the high temperature persists the best thing to do was to visit the hospital, adding that it can be a sign of fever.
Besides, she advised that women should embark on family planning after six weeks of delivery, stressing that family planning after six months had no implications.
Bulu added that it would only help the husband to perform his conjugal obligation without any inhibition.
She called on mothers to give their babies six months breastfeeding without water, stressing that six months was the most appropriate for their development.
She advised that babies should be fed with pap mixed with cereal and red oil after six months of breastfeeding, saying that red oil contains vitamin A that can help their growth.
The health technician listed those foods that contain vitamin A as carrot, pawpaw, watermelon, mango and cashew nuts, among others.
