Women-Led Lactation Support in Rural India: A Community-based Model for Breastfeeding Support and Early Infant Growth-Short Report

Abstract

Breastfeeding is a cornerstone for infant growth and survival yet rural India continues to face challenges like delayed initiation of feeding, discontinuation, limited access to government support and lactation counsellors. Beyond these, several misconceptions and myths prevail, leading to poor lactation practices thereby impacting both mother and the infant. This study presents an innovative women-led lactation support model aimed at improving neonatal health by women of the rural society. This project not only targets neonatal nutrition outcomes but also emphasizes the women empowerment through capacity building an employability. Following the Health Belief Model and Empowerment theory, the project has adopted 300 mother-infant dyads across rural Chikkaballapur, Karnataka. Ten rural girls trained as lactation counsellors supported a set of mother-infant dyads throughout the first 42 days ensuring extensive breastfeeding and by bringing the community out from misconceptions. Infant weight gain, maternal breastfeeding practices were assessed systematically and compared with a control group. The preliminary findings proved improved infant health and maternal breastfeeding practices. This model is a scalable and sustainable strategy that integrates with the rural health system. The findings support the aim of improving maternal knowledge and fostering women- led community development aligning with SDG 3,4 and 5. Further research focus on expanding this model to a larger rural population and replicating it across districts and states to achieve a global impact.