60% of newborns in India are still not breastfed in the first hour

60% of newborns in India are still not breastfed in the first hour on Business Standard. India ranked 56 out of 76 countries on early initiation of breastfeeding, according to the 2018 Global Breastfeeding Scorecard

Latest News While there has been an improvement in the number of babies getting breastfed in the first hour of life in India–reflected in a rise from 23.1% in 2005 to 41.5% in 2015–the majority of Indian babies still miss out and could face lifethreatening consequences, a new global report said. Early initiation of breastfeeding is crucial for a baby’s survival as colostrum, the first milk, is extremely rich in nutrients and antibodies that protect the baby against infection. While four children out of 10 are breastfed within the first hour in India, nearly nine in 10 are in Burundi, Sri Lanka and Vanuatu, according to Capture the Moment, a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on the eve of World Breastfeeding Week (August 1-7) 2018. India ranked 56 out of 76 countries on early initiation of breastfeeding, according to the 2018 Global Breastfeeding Scorecard, released with

the report, which tracks progress of breastfeeding policies and programmes. breastfeeding_countries_with_ranks Source: 2018 Global Breastfeeding Scorecard Three in five children (78 million) globally are not breastfed within the first hour of birth, even though a delay of just a few hours can increase the risk of mortality, the report said. Skin-to-skin contact along with suckling at the breast stimulates the mother’s production of breastmilk, including colostrum, also called baby’s ‘first vaccine’ due to its protective attributes. “Breastfeeding gives children the best possible start in life,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a press release. “We must urgently scale up support to mothers–be it from family members, health care workers, employers and governments, so they can give their children the start they deserve.”

India’s neonatal mortality rate–infant deaths within 28 days of birth per 1,000 births–reduced nearly 50% from 52 in 1990 to 28 in 2013, but is still higher than the global average (17 in 2016), as IndiaSpend reported in September 2017. Every minute matters Newborns Babies who began breastfeeding between two and 23 hours after birth had a 33% greater risk of dying compared with those who began breastfeeding within an hour, the study noted.