*Breastfeeding is the key to infant and Child survival
*Promoting something as simple as breastfeeding can reduce infant mortality by 11.6%.
*Though India has among the worst infant and child mortality figures in the world, 75% of the nation’s children are not breastfed from birth and over 50% are not exclusively breastfed.
*Breastfeeding Week, which comes and goes in August, gets little attention from the media or public in India.
*Starting breastfeeding early (within half an hour of birth), and exclusively breastfeeding the infant for the first six months, are critical for a child’s survival.
*Issue is not given the kind of importance it warrants because most of those entrusted with implementing nutrition programmes are under the impression that India is a “breastfeeding nation”.
*Public health authorities are calling for breastfeeding and complementary feeding promotion to be the key strategies to reduce the burden of undernutrition, stunting and diseases, and prevent lifestyle diseases in adulthood
*Breastfeeding can be promoted just by generating awareness and providing support to women and mothers. -Dr Arun Gupta, national coordinator of Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI)
*A combination of factors is responsible for poor early initiation of breastfeeding among them.
Lack of awareness and misconceptions about colostrum (the yellowish fluid which has protective substances that protect against infectious diseases and promote growth), for instance, results in it being discarded.
Very often,early initiation of breastfeeding is substituted with prelacteals like ghutti(a herbal concoction) or honey, as immediate breastfeeding is believed to cause indigestion.
*Most women do not know that breastfeeding is important. Very little information is passed on by health workers to mothers, so usually women with four to five children are approached for advice as they are considered “experienced.” But these women themselves are not aware of the importance of breastfeeding.
*Scant attention is paid to training with regard to breastfeeding. “People think, what is the training required to ensure breastfeeding? When actually, there are so many aspects involved like counselling, correct practices, infections or mastitis, breastfeeding for HIV-positive women, among others,” says Dr Gupta.