She encouraged them to trim their toes and finger nails, and heed to oral hygiene practices by bathing babies regularly. “They also need to keep themselves and their surroundings clean as women, to avoid contracting communicable diseases which invariably could affect their young ones.”

Madam Gockah made the call when she interacted with mothers on admission with their children at the unit.  The Nursing Officer, who is also Incharge of the paediatric unit of the hospital, bemoaned the attitude of some mothers who attended to their children after visiting the washroom without washing their hands with soap under running water.

She goes round the wards to interact with the in-patients at the ward who mostly are women on daily basis. Madam Gockah said by failure to observe personal hygiene could increase the rate of infections in them, and admonished other caregivers not to neglect hygienic practices when handling children.

The In-charge implored the mothers to feed their children with well balanced and nourished diet to promote their growth and development.She conceded that most of the mothers could not afford eggs, milk and meat for the required daily nutrients and suggested that they could depend on diets such as ‘tubaani’ (a local food prepared from beans), leafy vegetables, and ingredients like ‘dawadawa' and ‘keta school boys’ which were readily available and affordable.

Madam Gockah advised families who reared animals especially guinea fowls not to sell all including their eggs for income, but kill some to prepare meals for the family as some of the children were malnourished and anaemic.She also stressed on the need for the mothers to practise exclusive breastfeeding for six months, adding that the breast milk contained all the essential nutrients, built the immune system and prevented diarrhoeal diseases.

She advised the mothers to pay much attention to their children and never leave them alone in bathrooms with water especially hot water since it could cause burns and other unfavourable consequences.