World Breastfeeding Week: Why Lactation Support In India Needs Structural Reform

 India's public health system is aware of the advantages that breastfeeding has for both mothers' and children's health. The number of institutional deliveries has significantly increased. NFHS-5 (2019–21) reports that 88.6% of births now take place in medical facilities. But only 41.8% of mothers start breastfeeding within the first hour. This is an increase from 9.5%  in NFHS-1 (1992–93), but progress has slowed, and some states have seen a drop compared to previous rounds of the survey.  

The percentage of infants under six months who are exclusively breastfed has gone up from 54.9% in NFHS-4 (2015-16) to 63.7% in NFHS-5. There are still worries about pre-lacteal feeding and using bottles, especially in states like Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where pre-lacteal feeding is still pretty common.

According to reports, 45.9% of infants between the ages of six and eight months are getting complementary feeding. Only 11.1% of children between the ages of six and twenty-three months are getting a diet that meets the minimum standards. This shows that even though more women are giving birth in health facilities, there is still not enough help with feeding babies after birth.