The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends mothers feed their babies breast milk only for the first six months. Amid aggressive campaigns by pharmaceutical companies on the benefits of  their formula milk products, and amid a rising awareness among young women that breast-feeding benefits their beauty, the WHO’s recommendation deserves our attention.

Besides the benefits for the baby, breast-feeding also helps mothers lose weight, reduces their risk of cancer and serves as a natural contraception. During breast-feeding, husbands are encouraged to  provide emotional support for their wives.

It is unfortunate that fathers still choose to remain less involved in raising infants than they could due to the traditional concept that taking care of a baby is more the role of the mother.

Data from the Jakarta Health Agency in 2005 revealed that only 8.5 percent of mothers fed their children breast milk only for the first six months. Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih quoted a survey saying that only 22 percent of mothers nationwide fed their children breast milk only.

Other studies say that many mothers do not know the correct breast-feeding techniques and that working moms face challenges such as not having access to a daycare center a their office. A survey showed that breast milk can reduce the chance of child mortality by 17 percent for newborns and 12 percent for children under 5.

However, many hospitals feed babies with formula milk, raising concerns that the breast-feeding campaign is not effective enough.

To help the nationwide campaign for breast-feeding, the government has submitted a draft of a government regulation on exclusive breast-feeding to support Health Law No. 36/2009. The draft regulation, to be endorsed soon by the House of Representatives, stipulates that mothers are obligated to exclusively breast-feed their child for the first six months, unless there are medical reasons not to.

The draft regulation also stipulates that doctors, nurses and hospitals must educate mothers of newborns about breast-feeding. The draft regulation also rules that government institutions, private offices and public places must provide childcare centers.

To support the exclusive breast-feeding campaign, Endang said the government would ban commercials on formula milk for babies under 1 year old starting next year. Proponents of breast-feeding have criticized advertising claims that formula milk has more nutrients and elements than breast milk. These advertisements, however, persuade many mothers that formula milk is a viable alternative to breast milk.

This is not the first time that the government has struggled to encourage mothers to breast-feed. Perhaps it needs to enforce sterner measures to ban hospitals from persuading mothers to switch to formula milk.

The draft regulation is just a measure to make the breast-feeding campaign a success. More important is the public’s participation in ensuring that Indonesia’s next generation gets the best opportunities possible, including the best nutrition starting the day they are born.

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