“Putting breast milk in your baby’s eye may lead to blindness” -Dr. Adesuwa Ogli
The practice of dropping breast milk in a baby’s eye in hopes to clear an itchy or irritated eye is one that has been around for a while. Many mums also swear that it works wonders and have gone ahead to pass the information down to other mums, but the National President, Women Optometrists in Nigeria, Dr. Adesuwa Ogli has warned mothers and prospective mothers that the practice could lead to blindness.
Dr. Ogli sounded this warning on Thursday, July 18, 2019 in Calabar while addressing newsmen on the occasion of the 43rd edition of the Nigerian Optometric Association, NOA Conference with the theme ‘Achieving Universal Access to Eye Health: The Way Forward’.
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She said,
“We are always condemning women putting breasts milk in children’s (baby’s) eyes.
You do not administer drugs to your eyes that were not given to you by a doctor and breast milk is not good for babies’ eyes.
If your baby has discharge or itching, go to the nearest hospital”
The Optometrists leader said according to the Blindness Index, 55% of visual impairment is borne by women, meaning that, “55% of all visual impairment across the globe is from the women. So, this puts the woman and the child in an underprivileged situation.
“This is so because most times the women cannot afford eye care services. Eye care services are far from the women, so, what we do as an association is to take it to where they are because there are religious barrier, economic barrier and several other barriers that prevent the woman and the child from getting the services that they need from us. As women, we know them so, we take it to them and render the services free of charge”.
Adesuwa further advised everyone to test their eyes every year because there are several conditions that are asymptomatic. She also warned against self-medication, advising everyone to only take medications prescribed by a qualified and licensed doctor.