Authors: Vasanthakumar Namasivayam, Bidyadhar Dehury, Ravi Prakash, Marissa Becker, Lisa Avery, Deepa Sankaran, B. M. Ramesh, James Blanchard, Pankaj Kumar, John Anthony, Manish Kumar, Ties Boerma, Shajy Isac

Background

Timely initiation of breastfeeding, also known as early initiation of breastfeeding, is a well-recognized life-saving intervention to reduce neonatal mortality. However, only one quarter of newborns in Uttar Pradesh, India were breastfed in the first hour of life. This paper aims to understand the association of community-based prenatal counselling and postnatal support at place of delivery with early initiation of breastfeeding in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Methods

Data from a cross-sectional survey of 9124 eligible women (who had a live birth in 59 days preceding the survey) conducted in 25 districts of Uttar Pradesh, India, in 2018, were used. Simple random sampling was used to randomly select 40 Community Development Blocks (sub district administrative units) in 25 districts. The Primary Sampling Units (PSUs), health service delivery unit for frontline workers, were selected randomly from a linelisting of PSUs in each selected Community Development Block. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the association of prenatal counselling and postnatal support on early initiation of breastfeeding in public, private and home deliveries.

Results

Overall 48.1% of mothers initiated breastfeeding within an hour, with major variation by place of delivery (61.2% public, 23.6% private and 32.6% home). The adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of early initiation of breastfeeding was highest among mothers who received both counselling and support (aOR 2.67; 95% CI 2.30, 3.11), followed by those who received only support (aOR 1.99; 95% CI 1.73, 2.28), and only counselling (aOR 1.40; 95% CI 1.18, 1.67) compared to mothers who received none. The odds of early initiation of breastfeeding was highest among mothers who received both prenatal counselling and postnatal support irrespective of delivery at public health facilities (aOR 2.49; 95% CI 2.07, 3.01), private health facilities (aOR 3.50; 95% CI 2.25, 5.44), or home (aOR 2.84; 95% CI 2.02, 3.98).

Conclusions

A significant association of prenatal counselling and postnatal support immediately after birth on improving early initiation of breastfeeding, irrespective of place of delivery, indicates the importance of enhancing coverage of both the interventions through community and facility-based programs in Uttar Pradesh.

Citation: Namasivayam, V., Dehury, B., Prakash, R. et al. Association of prenatal counselling and immediate postnatal support with early initiation of breastfeeding in Uttar Pradesh, India. Int Breastfeed J 16, 26 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13006-021-00372-6

Read More
SHARE:

Recent Post

Gender-Responsive Healthcare: A Case Study

The SBA trainings are designed to enhance the capabilities of ANM and Staff Nurses (SNs) at District Hospitals, Community Health Centers (CHCs), and Primary Health Centers (PHCs) to improve the quality of intrapartum and newborn care and achieve better maternal and newborn health outcomes. In November 2022, a gender e-module was integrated into the SBA training to ensure gender-responsive service provision.
The video aims to capture the impact of the gender e-module training from Uma Shankar Dixit Women’s Hospital in Unnao and the steps taken by the staff and leadership to make the facility more gender-responsive, inclusive and equitable. 

PAHAL Issue 23

PAHAL Issue 23 highlights UPTSU’s contributions to improving healthcare in Uttar Pradesh. The key interventions include facilitating newborn care initiatives, launching training programs for healthcare staff, supporting ICDS in training Mukhya Sevikas, and improving vaccine coverage. These efforts demonstrate UP TSU’s commitment to making healthcare more accessible and effective across the state. The issue also highlights the activities conducted by the State Technical Support Unit TB – Uttar Pradesh, which includes the strategic push adopted to enhance the presumptive TB examination rate and also the training and pilot launch of the  Pharmacy app.

PAHAL Issue 22

The summer edition of this year’s PAHAL newsletter, highlights the remarkable progress UP-TSU has made in supporting the Health Department to advance public health across community, facility, and system levels in Uttar Pradesh.