The Rains Have Begun and the Children Are Catching Colds

Last weekend, I made a follow-up visit to see a baby who was suffering from a cold. The mother had taken my advice and gave him lots of liquids – such as coconut water, fruit juice, lemonade and warm water with basil leaf or honey – and now the baby is completely recovered! There was a little rain during the week and the dirt roads became muddy. Children got wet in the rain and a few of them caught colds. I found eight children in the village with colds this week. The mothers were good about following my advice and giving the children lots of liquids. When I followed up with the children, they were all healthy again. I held a courtyard session on exclusive breastfeeding. One mother admitted that her baby was fed goat milk right after it was born. The mother was very weak after giving birth and didn’t notice at first that the grandmother was giving the baby goat milk. The grandmother came from another village were there is no health education for the community people. That is why she did not know that babies should have nothing but breast milk until they are 6 months old. The mother said that after she found out about the goat milk, she did not allow any other person to feed her baby anything else.