World Breastfeeding Week 2025: Only 64% Of Indian Infants Under 6 months Are Exclusively Breastfed, Why This Neglect?
Exclusive breastfeeding for six months protects against diarrhoea and pneumonia; still major killers of children in the Global South.
Published : August 1, 2025 at 2:48 PM IST
For most of human history, the act of feeding a baby was a natural and almost automatic process. There were no formula bottles, no corporate jingles promoting powdered alternatives, and certainly no debate about whether mother’s milk was “worth it.”
Fast forward to the year 2025. In India (a country with over 1.4 billion people) more than half of infants still do not receive exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Somewhere along our long, winding evolutionary path, the most natural act became contested, undervalued, and avoided.
World Breastfeeding Week
This year, World Breastfeeding Week (1-7 August) returns under the WHO and UNICEF banner, asking governments and health systems to strengthen support for mothers and babies. It’s part of a larger campaign: Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures. But in India, where ancient wisdom often coexists with modern medicine, the statistics paint a stark picture. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5, only 64% of Indian infants under 6 months are exclusively breastfed. The remaining 36% may be given cow’s milk, sugar water, honey, or formula... all of which can introduce infections or lead to malnutrition. Worse, only 41% of newborns are breastfed within the first hour of birth, when colostrum (the most antibody-rich milk) is produced.
How did a culture that reveres the cow for its milk and lionizes motherhood allow this vital, biological act to become neglected?
The Myths That Changed the Map
In a pre-industrial society, breastfeeding was not optional. But with urbanization, modernization, and the global infiltration of infant formula marketing, breastfeeding started losing its social capital. Modernity brought paradoxes. In Indian metros, women working in tech or service sectors often return to work within 3 months, sometimes sooner. Without paid maternity leave, lactation rooms, or flexible schedules, breastfeeding becomes logistically impossible. In rural areas, where traditional practices dominate, early initiation is less likely among women with no schooling, those who deliver at home, or under the care of a traditional dai (midwife).
Add to this the persistent cultural myths (such as colostrum being “dirty” or “bad for the baby”) and it becomes clear that the issue is not ignorance alone, but a systemic failure rooted in class and gender.
UNICEF Global Scorecard
The UNICEF Global Breastfeeding Scorecard (2024) shows modest progress: globally, exclusive breastfeeding rates have increased by over 10 percentage points in the last 12 years. Still, the current global average remains just under 48%, with a 2030 target of 70%. In some countries like China, Nigeria, Uganda, and Somalia, transformational policies have helped reshape the narrative. In these nations, donor funding, legislation for maternity protections, and mass public awareness campaigns helped create what sociologists call “an enabling environment.”
India has improved its stats slightly since NFHS-4, but it still sits on a demographic and healthcare time bomb: tens of millions of infants with suboptimal feeding practices, leading to weakened immunity, cognitive delays, and in some cases, early death.
Why Is Breastfeeding Essential?
From a biological standpoint, breast milk is a complete food. The first thick, yellowish milk called colostrum is loaded with antibodies, priming the infant’s immune system. Think of it as the baby’s first vaccine; one that doesn't require a cold chain, a needle, or a vial. Exclusive breastfeeding for six months protects against diarrhoea and pneumonia; still major killers of children in the Global South. Globally, better breastfeeding could prevent nearly 600,000 child deaths annually.
The benefits don’t end with the baby. For mothers, breastfeeding reduces the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and even cardiovascular disease. From an evolutionary perspective, it's a win-win. And yet, in our modern economy, it's treated as a footnote rather than a pillar of public health.
Not breastfeeding costs countries billions in lost productivity, increased healthcare expenditure, and poor educational outcomes. In India’s case, a large portion of national health burdens (malnutrition, low birth weight, stunted growth) could be alleviated by simply ensuring infants are exclusively breastfed.
What Are The Solutions?
If India is to meet the Global Nutrition Target of 60% exclusive breastfeeding by 2030, here’s what must happen:
- Health Infrastructure: Improve delivery support in both government and private hospitals to enable early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
- Workplace Reform: Enforce mandatory paid maternity leave, lactation breaks, and baby-friendly work environments across sectors, not just in the public sector.
- Mass Campaigns: Counteract formula marketing with campaigns that are culturally resonant, scientifically accurate, and emotionally compelling. We need to de-market misinformation.
- Support At Every Level: From the local ASHA worker to national health ministries, everyone must be empowered to support breastfeeding women: not just during birth, but throughout the six-month period and beyond.
- Education for Men: Yes, fathers matter too. A well-informed, supportive partner is often the difference between breastfeeding success and abandonment.
This World Breastfeeding Week, let’s not just celebrate a maternal choice. We cannot invent a pill to match what breast milk already does. The future of human health may not lie in test tubes or tech startups but in how seriously we take the milk from a mother’s breast.
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