This advocacy brief underscores breastmilk as the optimal infant nutrition source, offering all essential nutrients, antibodies, and health benefits that cannot be replicated by substitutes. Breastfeeding benefits both child (reduced illness risk, improved survival, brain development, reduced chronic disease risk) and mother (reduced postpartum haemorrhage, breast and ovarian cancer risk, and better pregnancy spacing). It is a low-cost, high-impact intervention linked to multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Key barriers include aggressive marketing of breastmilk substitutes, often violating the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, which mandates strict controls on promotion and labelling. Optimal breastfeeding in low- and middle-income countries could prevent over 800,000 child deaths and 20,000 maternal deaths annually.
The brief highlights GAIN’s work in promoting breastfeeding, including:
Indonesia’s Baduta Programme: Behaviour-change interventions such as “emo-demos” to boost early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding rates, and reduce pre-lacteal feeding.
Workforce Breastfeeding Support: SUN Business Network’s global principle encouraging businesses to adopt breastfeeding-friendly policies, with examples from garment factories in Bangladesh and other corporate members.
Recommendations emphasise supporting WHO’s breastfeeding guidance—exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months, continued breastfeeding with complementary foods to 2 years+, and ensuring colostrum feeding within the first hour after birth. The private sector should provide complementary foods aligned with Codex Alimentarius standards.