High cost of baby food: Nursing mothers now grind local cereals to feed babies

Baby food

Early and in the late 60s, nursing mothers in Nigeria proudly fed their babies with local cereals, mostly after a year or a bit more of exclusive breastfeeding.However, as modernisation crept in coupled with the coming of western media, particularly television dotting Nigerian homes, things started to change. Breastfeeding mothers started relying basically on ready made, and factory processed baby foods.

But the turn of the millennium made things even worse. Most mothers, particularly, career ones, abandoned breastfeeding entirely.

Despite the warnings of medical practitioners and World Health Organisation, the culture continued unabated as more and more types of baby food kept flooding the markets on a daily basis.

However, the economic downturn has brought many things back to old ways of life. The cost of buying baby food, just as other products is not for the financially-weak.

A peep into market showed that the cost of baby food like Cereals ranges from N20,000 to N50,000 per tin depending on the brand.

Economy&Lifestyle has discovered that most Nigerian breastfeeding mothers, particularly those with average income are now returning to feeding their babies with homemade meals.

They’re making alternatives like potato, rice, banana, purees, semolina, amala and ewedu (yam flour and jute leaf) soup among other things to feed their infants.

Mrs. Doris Erabor, a factory worker and a nursing mother said: “I make semolina paste, add milk and salt to feed my four-month- old baby. For two months, I couldn’t afford the baby food which price has increased.“I was very worried because I don’t want to go for new brands which can pose health risk for my child.

“I started feeding him with pap (corn meal). I work at a factory and the pay is not much. A few weeks before resuming work, I was thinking about what kind of food would sustain him because the pap wasn’t helping at all. So, a friend introduced me to semovita and milk.