Dr Aisha Mohammed of the Paediatric Department, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital said research has shown that 14 per cent of ear problems in infants are as a result of bottle feeding.

The paediatrician made this known during an interview in Bauchi State on Thursday, adding that ear infection could affect the inner and outer part of the organ.

 She said that bottle feeding could also cause dental caries in children, explaining that dental caries, often called cavities, are erosions of the surface of the tooth, caused by combined effects of bacteria, acids, plaque and tartar.

Ms Mohammed said dental caries are common in both children and adults and occur most often as a result of poor dental hygiene.

The expert advocated spoon and cup feeding of babies after introducing complementary foods.

She added that “the use of the cup and spoon method should be adopted to mitigate ear problems and dental caries in babies. This is because the use of feeding bottles can affect the outer and inner ear of the baby due to either dripping from the bottle or forced feeding.”

The paediatrician, who campaigned against forced feeding of babies as practised in some communities, said it can cause aspiration pneumonia, the inhalational acute lung injury that occurs after aspiration of sterile gastric contents.

She, therefore, advised mothers to adopt best practices in breast and complementary feedings to avoid choking in babies, noting that “choking can also result in aspiration pneumonia (stubborn pneumonia).

She also advised mothers to observe babies’ eating behaviours to know the likely meals to be adopted during complementary feeding.

She added, “If the baby is refusing to take the provided food in a normal and gentle way, then something is wrong with the meal and the baby should not be forced.’’

(NAN)