Over 500 babies were born on Christmas Day by midday throughout the country. In a statement, Department of Health spokesperson Foster Mohale said the first bundle of joy is a baby girl born at 00h00 at Galeshewe Day Hospital in the Northen Cape, followed by a baby boy delivered at 00h02 at Harry Gwala Regional Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal and another one born at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital at 00h03.
MORE BABIES BORN IN GAUTENG
Mohale said almost 40% of this number of babies were born in Gauteng health facilities, followed by KwaZulu-Natal facilities. In the first twelve hours of Christmas Day, 103 boys and 91 girls were born in Gauteng, including a set of twins. Fifteen babies, six boys and nine girls were born on Christmas Day in the Free State while in KwaZulu Natala, spokesperson for the Department of Health Agiza Hlongwane confirmed that by 9 am, a total of 40m boys and 33 girls were born in the province at their 32 health facilities. The Limpopo Department of Health confirmed that 209 babies comprised of 106 boys and 103 girls were born in the province on 25 December. Fifty of the new mothers are teenagers, an increase of 17 from the 33 in 2022.
MOTHERS URGED TO BREASTFEED BABIES
The department has urged mothers to prioritise exclusive breastfeeding for at least the first six months to two years of the babies' life to enable them to achieve optimal growth and development. Mothers and caregivers were also encouraged to ensure their newborns remain updated with immunizations as per the Road-to-Health Booklet, also known as the clinic card, to protect them against life-threatening childhood diseases such as polio, measles and smallpox. "It is also important for parents to ensure that babies are registered for birth certificates within 30 days after birth to avoid late registrations. To make it more convenient for parents to register their children within 30 days, the Department of Home Affairs has set up 161 offices at public hospitals and selected clinics as part of the government`s efforts to promote early birth registration. The department in partnership with various health sector stakeholders has launched the Side-by-Side campaign and the MomConnect initiative to support mothers to ensure that all children under the age of five years receive the nurturing care they need to survive and thrive.
CONCERNS OVER TEENAGE MOTHERS
In Limpopo, out of the 209 mothers who gave birth on Christmas Day, 50 are teenagers between the ages of 15 to 19. A 15-year-old was the first to deliver a baby in the province, at five minutes past midnight at the Malamulele hospital. Limpopo Health MEC, Dr Phophi Ramathuba expressed concern about the increasing number of teenage mothers and emphasised the need for various sectors to intervene and address the societal issue. "We need to look into each case and the police need to be involved because anyone below the age of 16 is statutory rape. We are doing this to protect the children," Ramathuba said. MEC of Health in KwaZulu Natala Nomagugu Simelane also raised concerns about teenage mothers in the province where the youngest mother was a 16-year-old who delivered at the Niemeyer Hospital in the Amajuba district in the northern part of the province. "What today's statistics are telling us is that girls are having sex at an early or very young age. In the case of these young mothers, they started having sex earlier, because when you give birth at 16, it means you are pregnant at 15-years-old. It's a serious cause for worry in our communities," she said. Simelane urged parents and guardians to stop regarding sex as a "taboo' subject, and pretending that it does not exist. "Let's rather normalise speaking to our children about it, and put them at ease. Let's encourage abstinence, but also be realistic enough to know that not all of them will abstain. "Let's talk to them about condoms and birth control," she added.
