Angela Onwuzoo
Mothers have been asked to wash their hands with soap after changing their babies’ diapers and do away with the notion that babies’ faeces are not harmless.
A Consultant Paediatric Haematologist and Oncologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Prof. Edamisan Temiye, who gave the charge, warned that disposing of babies’ stool inappropriately could lead to infections.
Temiye said due to misconceptions, some mothers assume that babies’ stool is harmless and poorly disposed of while some do not wash their hands after changing their babies’ diapers.
The child health specialist who spoke with PUNCH Healthwise pointed out that no stool is harmless including that of a newborn.
The paediatrician explained, “Babies’ stool is not harmless is a misconception. Every stool should be disposed of appropriately in the sewage system.
“The moment a baby is born, the baby starts interacting with all the microorganisms in the environment, including the ones from the mother and the mother’s stool, the father’s stool, and the community’s stool.
“In communities where babies’ stool is not disposed of appropriately, when adults use the toilet, they don’t wash their hands and when they touch and serve food, they spread the impact to children.
“That is one of the reasons diarrhoea disease is one of the most common causes of death in children under five because those germs come back and the child who has low immunity could have diarrhoea.”
The physician noted that when babies ‘faeces are poorly disposed of, it could expose them to the risk of diarrhoea due to their low immunity.
He identified diarrhoea as one of the greatest causes of death in children and one of the top five causes of death in children.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, diarrhoea remains a leading killer of young children.
“Diarrhoea is a leading killer of children, accounting for approximately nine per cent of all deaths among children under age five worldwide in 2019. This translates to over 1,300 young children dying each day, or about 484,000 children a year, despite the availability of a simple treatment solution”, UNICEF said.
Temiye also told our correspondent that other infections like typhoid disease could be transferred through stool.
According to him, children also get hepatitis A as a result of poorly disposed of stool and their parents do not wash their hands before they feed them.
“When anybody has hepatitis A, the risk involved is that it can cause the liver to shut down completely and the person can die from liver failure” he added.
He further disclosed that poorly disposed of stool could also lead to worm infestation in children, which he said might result in malnutrition.
He said, “The child will develop malnutrition because the worm, a parasite, is consuming the food that the child should be consuming. Children are not supposed to have worms in their intestines.”
The paediatrician urged every mother to maintain good hygiene.
He advised that every stool should be properly disposed of whether of, whether of a baby or an adult.
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