Awareness of natural breastfeeding milk among mothers and the importance of colostrum within the first hour of birth in India

INTRODUCTION

Colostrum

It is the first milk that baby gets immediately after birth. The mammary gland present within the mother is naturally prepared and releases the milk after giving birth. This colostrum is rich in nutrient and high in antibodies and antioxidants to build a newborn’s immune system. As reported by Singh et al the colostrum is a meal that is worth it for infants.¹

Breastfeeding

It is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child, and it is one of the most effective ways to ensure child health and survival.²

Milk

Human mother’s milk refers to the milk produced by mammary glands, located in the breast of every female gender. It is the primary source of nutrition for newborns, containing fat, protein, carbohydrates and variable minerals and vitamins.³

Awareness

awareness is a process that seeks to inform and educate people about a topic or raising issue with the intention of influencing the people attitudes, behaviors and beliefs towards the achievement of a defined purpose or goal.⁴ First hour: first hour here means that, the full or portion of an hour occurring from the moment immediately after the birth of the newborn.⁵

Globally human breast milk has been the most nutritive form, source of nutrients and bioactive antioxidant substances for the survival of their infants, especially at the first hour of birth. Several health benefits of feeding at the first hour of birth have been amply documented. Evidence suggests that cessation of breast feeding from the first hour of birth leads to several health limitations for the infants. More also numerous studies have reported the adverse effect and risk of infection from child hood to adult hood.^6,7 The (Table 1), shows the importance of breast feeding among the infant and mother.

Optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices are critical for child nutrition and survival. Breastfeeding is a vital component of IYCF. The “global strategy for IYCF” states that “breastfeeding is an unequalled way of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and uncompromised development of infants.

However, it is also an essential part of the reproductive process with important implications for the health of mothers. As a global public health recommendation, infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life to achieve optimal growth, development and health. In addition to meet their nutrition requirements, infants should receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods while breastfeeding continues for up to 2 years of age or beyond.^8-20

Early initiation of breastfeeding has been documented to improve neonatal survival, and protective against the infection specific mortality among newborn infants.

The integral aspect of early initiation of breastfeeding helps to develop a bond between a mother and her baby; it also helps to establish a successful and sustained lactation by inactivating prolactin hence reducing the quantity of breast milk.²¹

Aim and objectives

The aim and objectives of this study was to spread awareness of natural breastfeeding milk among mothers and the importance of colostrum within the first hour of birth in India, because the possible reasons for suboptimal breastfeeding are primarily due to the lack of proper information to mothers, inadequate healthcare support, inability of the healthcare providers to help mothers experiencing breastfeeding difficulty and lack of proper support structures at the community.

METHODS

The secondary data presented in this paper was abstracted from well-known search engines performed in March 2022. Search engines like PubMed and Google Scholar. In PubMed 8 articles were returned and Google scholar 11 articles used keywords related to breastfeeding and colostrum and first hour of birth in India. That included 19 studies altogether, all papers were done within 2019 to 2022 and published in English to answer the research question of this paper. The articles included review works, original articles, text book. These studies were tabulated and compiled in (Table 1-2).

They were further grouped into the importance of breast feeding that was sub categorized into evidence based breast feeding for disease prevention, among the infants and mothers. Neurological development is enhanced for preterm infants’ breast fed. Similarly, it was reported that sudden infant deaths syndrome occurs with infants not breast fed.

While among the mothers there is recovery of mothers’ health after proper breast feeding of infants. Asthma and atopy, studies have shown that infants recovery rate is higher and protective against the disease and among the mothers, neither the child not the mother would be obese. Furthermore, the importance of breast feeding colostrum in the first hour of birth was tabulated, indicating their advantages and disadvantages.

RESULTS

Overview description of included studies

Children should not suffer from the lack of adequate knowledge or ignorance from their parents. In the included studies the importance of breast feed was not limited to Infectious and non- infectious diseases as reported among the mothers and children. Similarly, the neuro-development and sudden infant deaths, (SIDS) was showed to be preventable among the mother and children if properly breast fed. Even some diseases of family history for example asthma and atopy could be averted. Evidences suggests that chronic diseases that may appear in later life of the children is most probably halted and these children are protected naturally from the diseases.

DISCUSSION

Colostrum is extremely magical, huge benefit and useful for the immunity and growth of the baby. Colostrum high in carbohydrates, protein, antibodies, and low fat is crucial for an infant. However, newborns with small digestive systems are unable to digest it. Mild laxative effect, encourages baby’s first stool passage, which is called meconium rich in antibiotic properties. It also clear extra bilirubin, a waste product of dead red blood cells that is produced in large quantities at birth due to blood volume reduction, helps jaundice prevention as a result of the colostrum.^22-29

Leukocytes are in large numbers; protecting the infant from harmful viruses and bacteria. Ingesting colostrum establishes beneficial bacteria in the digestive tract. According to a research conducted by Hart et al. showed breast fed neonates had more compelling advantageous factors in colostrum fed infants than those not even fed colostrum.³⁰ Several studies have reported evidences about the exclusive breast feeding (EBF). A Tanzania study reported that of those that received health care (91%) in ANC, but about one third (39%) and 25% of postpartum mothers reported having received breastfeeding counselling. Several other women cultural belief and perceptions that the mother’s milk is low in quantity, may be low for the child development, child is thirsty, need for herbs introduction for ailment and so on are reasons for the early complementary feeding.³¹ In addition, the World Health Assembly (WHA) has set a global target in order to increase the rate of exclusive breast feeding for infants aged 0-6 months up to at least 50% in 2012.³¹ Adherence to these guidelines varies globally; only 38% of infants are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life according to the report. high-income countries such as the United States (19%), United Kingdom (1%), and Australia (15%), have shorter breastfeeding duration than do low-income and middle-income countries.

However, even in low-income and middle-income countries, only 37% of infants younger than six months are exclusively breastfed.²⁶ To our best knowledge, this was the first study that will spread awareness of natural breastfeeding milk among mothers and the importance of colostrum within the first hour of birth in India and it can help as the baseline towards policy change. May be carried forward for public health intervention of further research to better informed information, education and counselling for pregnant women for sustainable future of our children according to the United Nations sustainable goals, no one should be left behind.^32,33

Limitations

Limitations of current study was that the included studies finding may not be generalized globally due to its short communication nature. As observed bias with reference to the study population, as majority are more specified to mothers and pregnant women for inclusion in lieu to women general population. In addition, lack of qualitative data sources is observed in all the studies as well as recalls bias was seen to be one of the limitation of all the studies as they deal with questionnaires and face to face interviews. However, clear and focus discussion on the qualitative and important aspects of colostrum and breastfeeding may be planned for comprehensive insight, which if properly addressed might aid in encouraging and promoting the breastfeeding culture among Indian mothers.

CONCLUSION

The amount of health benefits derived from breastfeeding is influenced by lots of factors not limited to the age of the child at initiation of breastfeeding, colostrum is extremely useful for the immunity and growth of the baby due its high level of carbohydrates, protein, antibodies, and low fat. Therefore, delay in breastfeeding initiation will obviously increase the chance of giving the babies other (prelacteal) liquid supplementations that can enhance infection, which in turn could lower the chance of child’s survival. However, mother’s educational status plays important role at determining the time a child is introduced to the first breast milk. This study will therefore focus on spreading awareness about the importance of natural breastfeeding and colostrum within the first hour of birth.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Authors would like to thank the faculty members of school of allied health science, department of public health, Noida International University, India.

Funding: No funding sources

Conflict of interest: None declared

Ethical approval: Not required

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