Women's breast-feeding patterns are complex, and existing definitions of breast-feeding behavior do not capture this complexity adequately. We used results from a prior qualitative study to define trajectories for feeding during the first half of infancy, and then examined household-, maternal-, and infant-level determinants of these trajectories using logistic regression analysis. The 1472 wom...

Background: Breastfeeding has been a universally accepted practice. Due to awareness in urban areas breastfeeding is practiced by almost all mothers whereas mothers in rural areas practice lesser. This might be due to varied factors like female literacy, low awareness etc. Aims & Objective: To find out the pattern of breast feeding practices in the rural mothers of Nagamangala Taluk, Mandya Dis...

BACKGROUND Adequate nutrition during infancy and early childhood is essential to ensure the health, growth and development of children. However, infant feeding practice is suboptimal in Bahir Dar City, Ethiopia. The slum area is a heavily populated urban informal settlement characterized by substandard housing, squalor, with a lack of reliable sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliabl...

In Hindu communities, breastfeeding is nearly universal and continues for most children beyond infancy. This review examines the religious and cultural basis for the contemporary breastfeeding practices amongst the Hindu. Practices at the time of birth and feeding rituals like prelacteal feeds, importance and timing of complementary feeds, and protections for the breastfeeding mother are examin...

BACKGROUND Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) means that the infant receives only breast milk for the first six months of life after birth. In Bangladesh, the prevalence of EBF remained largely unchanged for nearly two decades and was 43% in 2007. However, in 2011, a prevalence of 64% was reported, an increase by 21 percentage points. The reasons for this large change remain speculative at this poin...

OBJECTIVE Our primary objective was to evaluate the effect of peer counselling by mother support groups (MSG's) in improving the infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in the community. METHODS We conducted this repeated-measure before and after study in the Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India between 2006 and 2011. We assessed the IYCF practices before and after creating MSG's...

UNLABELLED In 2005, Cambodia passed the Sub-Decree on Marketing of Products for Infant and Young Child Feeding (no. 133) to regulate promotion of commercial infant and young child food products, including breastmilk substitutes. Helen Keller International assessed mothers' exposure to commercial promotions for breastmilk substitutes and use of these products through a cross-sectional survey amo...