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Most babies not breastfed in their first hour
Why in the news ?
- As per the new report made public, as many as 6 out of 10 babies born in the country are not able to begin breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
- Reasons are lack of supportive work environment, inadequate skills of health care providers as well as caesarean deliveries.
Significance of First milk
- Mother’s breast milk within one hour of birth ensures that the infant receives the colostrum or first milk, which is rich in protective factors.
- The WHO and UNICEF also recommend exclusive breastfeeding for infants up to the age of six months and thereafter complementary foods with continued breastfeeding up to 2 years of age or beyond.
More on news
- The 5th Report of Assessment of India’s Policy and Programmes on Breastfeeding and Infant and Young Child Feeding in 2018 also gives India a score of 45 out of 100 on 10 parameters under the category of policy and programmes.
- However, India performs better in terms of infant and young child feeding practices scoring 34 out of 50 on five parameters.
- Early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth is 41.5%, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months is 54.9%, inclusion of complementary feeding between 6-8 months is 42.7%.
- Adequate complementary feeding and minimum acceptable diet among 6-23 months children is as low as 9.6%, the report cites data from NFHS-4.
- India has made some progress over the years and between National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-3 and NFHS-4, early initiation of breastfeeding has improved from 23.4% to 41.5% children breastfed within one hour of birth.
- This hasn’t kept pace with the stark increase in institutional deliveries which more than doubled during the same period, from 38.7 % to 78.9%.
Source
The Hindu