Every year, World Breastfeeding Week reminds us of one of the simplest and most powerful ways to give every child the best possible start in life. It highlights the importance to begin breastfeeding within the first hour after birth, feeding babies only breast milk for the first six months, and continue breastfeeding alongside complementary foods until the age of two years or beyond. This year’s theme, “Breastfeeding for a Sustainable Start in Life: Strengthen What Works,” highlights the need to promote, and support breastfeeding as a cornerstone of child survival, maternal health, and sustainable development.
Breastfeeding is often described as nature’s first vaccine, but it is much more than that. It provides ideal nutrition, protects against infectious diseases, supports cognitive development, lowers the risk of obesity and non-communicable diseases later in life, and contributes to maternal health by reducing the risk of breast and ovarian cancers and type 2 diabetes.
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-6 data shows significant improvements in breastfeeding indicators in India. Early initiation of breastfeeding, defined as a baby being breastfed within the first hour after birth, has increased from 41.8% to 50.1%. This is significant progress as the first hour is a window that is very important for establishing bonding, ensuring exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life, and strengthening newborn immunity.
Breastfeeding is often seen solely as a mother’s responsibility, but in reality, it is a shared responsibility. Mothers need the right support. They need skilled counselling during pregnancy and immediately after childbirth to build confidence and address common challenges. When difficulties arise, access to trained health workers and lactation support can make all the difference. Families also have an important role to play by encouraging mothers, sharing household responsibilities, and creating a supportive environment. For working mothers, supportive workplace policies, including paid maternity leave, flexible work arrangements, breastfeeding breaks, and safe, private spaces to express and store breast milk are essential. When families, communities, health systems, employers, and governments work together, mothers are better able to breastfeed successfully, giving every child the healthiest possible start in life.
A study analysing data from the NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 found that mothers who attended more antenatal care visits and those who delivered in public health facilities were more likely to exclusively breastfeed their infants. Conversely, exclusive breastfeeding was less likely among mothers under 20 years of age, babies born with low birth weight, and cases where breastfeeding was initiated more than an hour after birth. These findings highlight how quality counselling and support from the health system can play a crucial role in helping mothers successfully breastfeed.
As this year’s theme emphasises “Strengthen What Works,” it is important to build on the initiatives that are already in place. The Poshan Abhiyaan, under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, identifies Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) as a key strategy to address inadequate and inappropriate infant and young child feeding practices. Through annual Poshan Maah and Poshan Pakhwada campaigns, the programme has brought breastfeeding and infant and young child feeding to the national spotlight by promoting awareness, strengthening counselling services, and enhancing the engagement of frontline workers. However, these efforts need to be strengthened further through greater convergence with community-based platforms.
Inadequate breastfeeding is estimated to contribute to 73,417 child deaths from diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections each year, while imposing an economic burden of nearly US$16.6 billion annually. World Health Assembly’s target is of achieving 70% exclusive breastfeeding by 2030. Reaching this goal demands policies and implementing programmes that will need to galvanise actions that help mothers overcome obstacles and ensure adequate support to achieve the recommended practices of early, exclusive, and continued breastfeeding.
The Global Breastfeeding Collective calls for a range of policy measures, including increased funding to raise rates of early, exclusive, and continued breastfeeding; enforcement of the Infant Milk Substitutes (IMS) Act by imposing stricter penalties on violators and increasing the Act’s overall uptake across sectors; broader paid leave and workplace provisions for all workers; adoption of the 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding across maternity facilities; increased access to skilled breastfeeding counselling, reinforced by closer links between health facilities and communities; and stronger monitoring systems to track progress against breastfeeding targets.
This year’s theme, “Strengthen What Works,” is already reflected in several ongoing efforts in India. Ministry of Women and Chid Development continues to run BCC and Information, Education, and Communication campaigns to spread breastfeeding messages widely, alongside efforts to strengthen enforcement of the IMS Act to check aggressive formula marketing. At the field level, digital solutions such as the Poshan Tracker not only enable effective monitoring of Anganwadi services but also provide tools within the application for effective interpersonal counselling at home, tracking breastfeeding indicators from the child’s birth. The recently launched Home Visit Scheduler, which aligns joint home visits with health functionaries, and beneficiary module where beneficiary can access integrated information videos are just one such initiative already in place. Strengthening these efforts across health and nutrition systems will be key to closing India’s breastfeeding gap and meeting both India’s own nutrition goals and the global 2030 target.
Courtesy PIB, Srinagar
(The Authors are Research Lead, Anuvaad Solutions and Nutrition Lead, Anuvaad Solutions)
