Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) Practices: Significance, Policies, Programmes, Key Learnings and Way Forward

Appropriate infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices are imperative for preventing child undernutrition, nourishing developing brains, building strong immune systems, and contributing to overall health. The undernutrition trend in children confirms that the first 1,000 days of life is the definitive period during which IYCF interventions yield substantial benefits. In 43 out of 122 countries, exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is over 50%, while in other countries it is over 70%. In most of the countries, such as India, EBF practice rate is high, but appropriate techniques of breastfeeding and complementary feeding (CF) practices are poor with poor breast milk transfer and low minimum acceptable diet (MAD) scores. The primary principles of CF are essential for appropriate IYCF, i.e. timely introduction of CF between 6 and 8 months, adequate diet diversity, and appropriate frequency of feeding. The challenge in appropriate CF is in ensuring diet diversity with adequate content of quality protein and micronutrients in the diet that is fed frequently in appropriate consistency. Policies and experiences for establishing IYCF are described. Mothers need to be encouraged to follow evidence-based techniques for “effective” EBF for ensuring a child below 6 months is prevented from undernutrition and for adopting appropriate CF practices including on how to regularly incorporate quality protein and micronutrient rich food items in CF.