Paediatrician alerts on Nestle’s practices in Nicaragua

NESTLE: company with social i-responsibility?

By Nilda Terán, pediatrician from Nicaragua

The description of the following phenomena and its analysis have been written thinking about the future of
the childhood of Nicaragua:

1) In the last five years the full cream milks of the brand NIDO had different surnames: NIDO – crecimiento (growth), NIDO Prebio-1, NIDO Prebio-2, etc. and for more than 20 years they pack them in tins of a pound, simulating that are formula. In an intuitive way the mothers assume that it is special for certain groups of age during the lactation and if one asks them the meaning of every brand, cannot make clear it, but they believe that they are equal milk to the formula for breast-fed babies. Might this be considered as a deceitful advertising? Also the NAN formula now has one that is named NAN-Antirreflujo, which doctors and
nutricionistas indicate to babies who are being nursed.  It could be good if IBFAN does an research on the concepts that the mothers have on these milk and also regarding the personnel of health that attends to the programs of growth and development.

2) The Protocol of Primary Care of the MINSA (Ministry of Health) for the control of growth is inappropriate
from any point of view (IMCI - management of childhood illness) and is the Bible for the personnel of health.
The nurses and auxiliars that handle these programs come from the same strata of the patients and possess the food culture of the country, which has been transmitted by generations and the one that only serves to perpetuate the malnutrition in early stages of life.

3) Can be possible that mothers initiate prematurely the diet of the weaning in Nicaragua, even when they follow breastfeeding. It consists of giving first ¨fresquitos¨ or fruit drinks (from the two to three months of life or before), then, between four to six months they initiate the ¨moguitos¨. This consists of giving only roots as potato and quequisque and chayote every day. Plus the introduction of the soup Maggi, which according to
the resources can be to diary or approximately two to three times per week. When they prepare something special it is ¨sustancias¨ that consists of the broth of any meat or entrails. Because they assume that it is
what feeds on the meats and because the children do not have millstones to chew them. It can extend until
the year of age. When they come to this age they offer them a big piece of meat, which the child sucks up to making it totally white and then they bounce it, then they are happy because she/he ¨ate meat¨. This is frequent that continues happening up to four or five years of age.

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