Making hungry babies eat

“In Bangladesh, children with malnutrition are not dying. But they are living like they are dying.” Dr. Shatadal Dhar, World Vision Bangladesh

In the North Bandar area of Patenga, a group of mothers meets to learn about nutrition, health, and wellness and to rehabilitate their toddlers, who have all been identified as severely malnourished. There are two goals: 1) to educate the mothers, and 2) get those babies as fat as possible in two weeks.

Umme and Anjana, the women who teach the course, truly are the peers of those they teach. They have no financial resources - in fact, one of them has a child who is sponsored - but what they do offer is in abundance… a willingness to learn and to teach, a desire to revolutionize their community, and infinite patience.

We met with the mothers at the halfway point of their fourteen-day course as they were preparing a late morning meal for their children of porridge and a special treat that they had brought from home. The babies sat together, clanging their bowls together to make music, laughing, hitting one another in the face with spoons, crying… just like you would expect from any baby in Canada.

Many people often ask what is the point of educating women about nutrition if they can’t afford to food anyways. But this is when it is most important… if a family is only having one meal per day, it is essential for that meal to be as nutritious and calorie-laden as possible. And tasty, so that the children will actually eat it. Even a malnourished child in rural Bangladesh can be a fussy eater just like your children at home (perhaps even more so due to the listlessness of hunger and illness). For families with no food available whatsoever, World Vision will offer assistance.

We asked the mothers what was the most important thing that they have learned so far. The overwhelming consensus was the importance of hand washing before preparing food and after using the washroom. When asked what their husbands thought of these new family rules, the woman giggled and said that most of their husbands were happy as they had been practising hand washing all along!

After just one week, the mothers are noticing that their children are happier, healthier, and more active. Although the program is just for children 36 months or younger, there is a noticeable improvement in their other children as well.

And what do Umme and Anjana see as their greatest success? When the program started two years ago, many mothers refused to have their children weighed (it is these monthly weighings that identify malnourished children) as they believed that the weighing itself would cause their children to lose weight. Now, mothers in the community are lining up for these regular checkups.

I’ll end with one mother’s story. She had an older child as well, who was always sick throughout his early years. She never knew why. After just seven days in this course, she knows why. She sees her children getting better already. She is now confident that her youngest child will not suffer the same life as her oldest child. And she is full of hope for both. So am I.