Educating teen moms

In South Africa, less than 8% of mothers’ breastfeed exclusively for 6 months after their baby’s birth. Yet our infant mortality rates are alarmingly high. The World Health Organisation in partnership with Unicef is driving a worldwide campaign to increase breastfeeding rates and hence positively impact infant mortality and morbidity. The majority of infant deaths in rural as well as urban South African are from illnesses such as pneumonia and diarrhoea, which are 100% preventable through the right breastfeeding practices. The large HIV/Aids rates in SA complicates the matter, and breastfeeding and lactation consultants need specialised training in working with the diverse cultural differences, poverty levels as well as levels of education of the mothers we meet.

Through the interventions of Mama Themba, we assist local hospitals Helderberg Hospital, Macassar Day Hospital as well as Grabouw Day Hospital in achieving Mother Baby Friendly Status, which means that these hospitals comply with the WHO standards of educating and supporting mothers who breastfeed.

During September, we spent a day at Cotlands in Macassar, educating pregnant teen girls on labour and birth, what they can expect when they come to the hospital to deliver their babies and all about breastfeeding. These girls are now forming our teen mums support group, and will get together with us and support each other through their pregnancies and when their babies are still small. Being a teen mum is especially challenging and we encourage them to form friendships and support each other.

Support groups are very effective in teaching women in an informal setting, and also relieves a lot of the fear and pressure that mothers may be feeling. We love support groups and will continue to endeavour to establish more in our communities.

Frances and Liezl with teen mothers in Macassar

Zoleka in action at Helderberg Hospital