By Sipokazi Maposa
Parents who "clean" their children's dummies in their mouths or pre-chew food to make it easier to give to infants, could be putting their children's health at risk for a host of infections, including HIV.
A study at Stellenbosch University has found that a significant number of mothers and caregivers were pre-masticating food to feed to young children, a practice regarded as a vehicle for transmission of pathogens, including Hepatitis B and HIV.
Dr Elke Maritz, a paediatrician and infectious disease specialist at Tygerberg Hospital's Children, Infectious Diseases and Clinical Research Unit, said a two-year investigation had shown that even though the practice was under-reported, it was actually widespread among caregivers.
Mothers and relatives sampled in the city's lower-income home and at the Tygerberg Hospital paediatric and HIV outpatient clinics, had admitted to pre-chewing food for children as young as six months as a way of encouraging the infants to eat or homogenise food.
Of more than 150 caregivers included in the sample, most of whom were mothers, more than 69 percent were pre-masticating food by either biting it into smaller pieces or pre-chewing it. They cited safety, culture or habit among their reasons why.
At least 78 percent of the women were doing it based on their mother's advice. About half reported that they "cleaned" their children's dropped dummies in their own mouth.
About 64 reported they were pre-chewing food such as meat to pre-taste it, 61 percent were doing it to encourage their infants to eat, 85 percent were checking the temperature of the food, and 60 percent were doing it to homogenise food.
She said 40 percent of caregivers pre-masticated every meal daily, 34 percent pre-chewed some meals daily and 6.6 percent did so occasionally.
Maritz warned the practice could have health ramifications as a significant number of interviewed women reported they had had oral infections or dental problems, including bleeding gums. Of the caregivers, 27 percent had bleeding gums, 36 percent had dental problems, 24 percent reported having mouth sores, nine percent had oral thrush, and four percent had mouth blisters.
Maritz said the oral infections, combined with the frequency of the practice, posed a great health risk to children.
It could lead to blood-borne diseases such as Hepatitis B or HIV and Aids.
"To most of these women pre-chewing food is natural. Most feed their infants from their own plates, and for them pre-masticating is a way of making food applicable for a child," she said.