Exclusive breastfeeding in first six months influenced by family practices: Govt 

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Exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life is influenced by multiple socio-cultural factors, including individual preferences, use of pre-lacteal feeds and infant milk substitutes, family practices and breastfeeding frequency, the government told Parliament on Tuesday.

Highlighting that steps are being taken to promote the practice, Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha that early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth has improved to 50.1 per cent in National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-6 (2023-24) from 41.8 per cent in NFHS-5.

She was replying to a query on whether the government had taken note of the decline in exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months from 63.7 per cent in NFHS-5 to 55.8 per cent in NFHS-6 despite improvements in institutional deliveries and early initiation of breastfeeding.

Patel said the Centre has integrated several interventions under the National Health Mission (NHM) to promote exclusive breastfeeding, including for working mothers and women employed in the informal sector.

She said the Mother Absolute Affection (MAA) programme, launched in 2016, promotes optimal infant and young child feeding practices through counselling during antenatal and postnatal care, lactation support at health facilities, capacity building of healthcare workers, community outreach by ASHAs, and awareness campaigns such as World Breastfeeding Week.

The government has also established Comprehensive Lactation Management Centres and Lactation Management Units to provide donor human milk for sick and preterm newborns and support mothers in expressing breast milk, she said.

Patel said healthcare personnel are trained under programmes such as Daksh, Dakshta, Skilled Birth Attendant (SBA) and Nurse Practitioner Midwifery to promote normal deliveries and support early and exclusive breastfeeding.

She added that the Poshan Tracker application is being used by Anganwadi workers for monitoring nutrition indicators and delivering counselling on breastfeeding and complementary feeding, while community awareness drives are conducted through Poshan Maah, Poshan Pakhwada and other outreach programmes.

The minister also cited a September 2025 evaluation by the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO) of NITI Aayog, which found that new mothers were receiving information on exclusive breastfeeding during the postnatal period, reflecting the effectiveness of counselling and health education efforts at health facilities and in communities.

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