'If the baby could speak, she would scream': the risky measures to feed small babies in Gaza

TimesLIVE

7 days ago

'I am terrified about the fate of the baby,' said her grandmother, Nemah Hamouda. 'We named her after her mother ... hoping she can survive and live long, but we are so afraid, we hear children and adults die every day of hunger.'
Muntaha now weighs about 3.5kg, her family said, barely more than half of what a full-term baby her age would normally weigh. She suffers stomach problems like vomiting and diarrhoea after feeding.
Health officials, aid workers and Gazan families told Reuters many families are feeding infants herbs and tea boiled in water, or grinding up bread or sesame. Humanitarian agencies also reported cases of parents boiling leaves in water, eating animal feed and grinding sand into flour.
Feeding children solids too early can disrupt their nutrition, cause stomach problems, and risk choking, paediatric health experts say.
'It's a desperate move to compensate for the lack of food,' said Unicef spokesperson Salim Oweis. 'When mothers can't breastfeed or provide proper infant formula they resort to grinding chickpeas, bread, rice, anything that they can get their hands on to feed their children ... it is risking their health because these supplies are not made for infants to feed on.'
BABY BOTTLES WITHOUT MILK
Gaza's spiralling humanitarian crisis prompted the main world hunger monitoring body on Tuesday to say a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding and immediate action is needed to avoid widespread death. Images of emaciated Palestinian children have shocked the world.
Gazan health authorities have reported more people dying from hunger-related causes. The total so far stands at 154, among them 89 children, most of whom died in the last few weeks.
With the international furore over Gaza's ordeal growing, Israel announced steps over the weekend to ease aid access. But the UN World Food Programme said on Tuesday it was still not getting the permissions it needed to deliver enough aid.
Humanitarian agencies say there is almost no infant formula left in Gaza. The cans available in the market cost more than $100 — impossible to afford for families like Muntaha's, whose father has been jobless since the war closed his falafel business and displaced the family from their home.
In the paediatric ward of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, the infant formula supply is mostly depleted.
One mother showed how she poured thick tahini sesame paste into a bottle and mixed it with water.
'I am using this instead of milk, to compensate her for milk, but she won't drink it,' said Azhar Imad, 31, the mother of four-month-old Joury.
'I also make her fenugreek, anise, caraway, any kind of herbs (mixed with water),' she said, panicked as she described how instead of nourishing her child, these attempts were making her sick.
Medical staff at the hospital spoke of helplessness, watching as children's health deteriorated with no way to safely feed them.
'Now, children are being fed either water or ground hard legumes, and this is harmful for children in Gaza,' said doctor Khalil Daqran.
'If the hunger continues ... within three or four days, if the child doesn't get access to milk immediately, then they will die,' he said.