CM10.3 | CM10.3 | Pregnancy, Childbirth and Feeding Practices — Summary & Reflection

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Traditional practices around pregnancy, childbirth, and child feeding range from beneficial to harmful. Key harmful practices include dietary taboos during pregnancy (restricting protein foods → anaemia + LBW), unclean cord cutting by untrained dais (→ neonatal tetanus), colostrum denial (removes passive IgA immunity), prelacteal feeding with honey or sugar water (→ infection risk; honey specifically risks neonatal botulism), and early weaning. WHO IYCF recommendations: initiate breastfeeding within 1 hour of birth; exclusive breastfeeding for first 6 completed months; complementary feeding from 6 months with continued breastfeeding to 2 years. India NFHS-5: early initiation 41.8%, exclusive breastfeeding 63.7%, minimum adequate diet only 11.3%. Practices persist due to elder authority, dai influence, poverty, and low health literacy. Behaviour change requires IPC targeting decision-makers, community-level VHND platforms, and inclusion of trained TBAs rather than their exclusion. MAA programme and POSHAN Abhiyaan are the key GOI IYCF interventions.

REFLECT

You are conducting an ANC group session at the Anganwadi Centre. The senior woman in the room — a grandmother attending with her daughter-in-law — states that in her village, the first three days of milk 'make the baby's stomach run' and should not be given to the newborn. Twelve pregnant women are listening. How would you respond, using the positive-framing technique and the GATHER framework? What would you do differently if you were speaking with the grandmother alone versus in the group setting?