Exploration of Breastfeeding Practices in India: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Breastfeeding is essential and a unique way of providing food to infants for development and healthy growth. Various breastfeeding practices are followed in different regions of India.  Objective: This study aims to collect the information for practices related to prelacteal feed, early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, and weaning in India. Materials and Methods: A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, Google Scholar, Clinical key, the Cochrane Library, and Science Direct databases to identify studies on practices related to the initiation of early breastfeeding, prelacteal feed, Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF) practices, and weaning as outcomes. Quality assessment of each study was done by the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Results: Twenty-four studies were included in this systematic review. Seven studies reported an early initiation of breastfeeding within 1-6 hours of birth. Six studies reported various prelacteal foods given to infants, such as tea, boiled water, honey, sugar, jaggery, or glucose with plain water and diluted animal milk. Four studies stated that exclusive breastfeeding was a suboptimal practice, often continued for less than six months for reasons like working mothers (not enough time for breastfeeding), traditional beliefs, and inadequate milk output. Four studies explored the causes of early onset of weaning, and the most common reasons were initiation of supplementary feeding before six months, insufficient breastmilk, and lack of knowledge.  Conclusion: Overall, the results of the individual studies indicate that unhealthy breastfeeding practices such as prelacteal feeding, suboptimal exclusive breastfeeding, and early initiation of weaning practices were prevalent and almost the same across India.