The Ghana Health Service has advised mothers to avoid giving their babies ‘mmore koko,’ a locally cooked maize porridge.
Mothers have been warned not to serve just this porridge to their babies becuase it gets them drunk.
Greater Accra Regional Nutritional Officer, Faustina Vimariba, briefed the public at the UNICEF media workshop for journalists.
“…some people will give only ‘Mori Koko’ and sometimes they over ferment the ‘Mori Koko’ which is the maize porridge and it becomes alcohol.
“So, when you feed the child with it, it means that the child ends up getting drunk because it is the alcohol you have given to the child, and when the child sleeps, the child will miss the number of times that they’re supposed to feed.”
“We cannot really tell the alcohol percentage. but alcohol is not good for the brain development of the child so it has some effects. If it’s something they like, it should be fortified by adding other things to make it rich. Fortify it with groundnut paste, soya, etc
Also, it shouldn’t be very light but should be thick and friendly for the child. Three to four spoons is enough.”
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