A baby’s first bond

Breastfeeding is a natural, evidence-based practice that provides optimal nutrition, immune protection and supports healthy physical and neurological development during the early years of life. It also strengthens the mother–baby bond, reduces mothers’ risk of certain cancers, benefits families economically and contributes to environmental sustainability. As one of the most effective interventions for improving child health and survival, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months is strongly recommended. However, fewer than half of infants under six months of age are exclusively breastfed worldwide.

In 2018, a World Health Assembly resolution endorsed World Breastfeeding Week as an important health promotion strategy. With a different theme each year, it aims to promote the enabling environments that help women to breastfeed – including support in the community and the workplace, with adequate protections in government policies and laws - as well as sharing information on breastfeeding benefits and strategies.

First celebrated in 1992, the week marks the 1990 Innocenti Declaration, which recognised the need to protect, promote and support breastfeeding worldwide. The campaign is coordinated by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action and supported by organisations such as the World Health Organization, Unicef healthcare authorities and community groups across the world.

Breastfeeding is a normal physiological process. However, for many mothers and babies, it is a skill that requires practice and may require additional support. Each year, World Breastfeeding Week focuses on an issue that affects mothers’ ability to initiate and continue breastfeeding.

This year, the World Breastfeeding Week theme is ‘Breastfeeding for a Sustainable Start in Life: Strengthen What Works’. It invites us to consider the strategies that have already proven successful in supporting breastfeeding mothers and, in turn, improving nutrition, food security and poverty reduction. It also encourages us to strengthen these efforts to create a lasting impact. In Pakistan, where the exclusive breastfeeding rate for infants under six months of age is around 48 per cent - well below the global target of 60 per cent - the opportunity to build on what works has never been more important.

The lifelong benefits

for babies

Let us go back to the basics. Breastfeeding gives babies the best possible foundation for their health and it is often called a baby’s first vaccine for good reason. During the early months, breast milk provides perfectly balanced nutrition that adapts to a growing baby’s changing needs. It contains antibodies and immune factors that reduce the risk of common childhood illnesses. According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, babies who are breastfed have a lower risk of asthma, obesity, type 1 diabetes and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Breastfed babies are also less likely to develop ear infections and gastrointestinal infections. In addition to its physical benefits, breastfeeding also strengthens emotional well-being. The skin-to-skin contact and responsive feeding that breastfeeding encourages create a powerful emotional bond between mother and child, laying the foundation for secure attachment and responsive parenting.

The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, followed by continued breastfeeding alongside appropriate complementary foods for up to two years and beyond.

Breastfeeding and protection against certain cancers

For mothers, the benefits of breastfeeding extend well beyond the breastfeeding period. According to the National Health Service (NHS), UK, breastfeeding lowers a mother’s risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, osteoporosis (weak bones), cardiovascular (heart) disease and obesity.

One of the most significant protective effects of breastfeeding is a reduced lifetime risk of breast cancer. Research consistently shows that breastfeeding lowers the overall risk of breast cancer. It is also important to recognise that breastfeeding may provide greater protection against certain types of breast cancer than others. In particular, breastfeeding is most protective against hormone receptor-negative breast cancers, which tend to be more aggressive and have fewer treatment options. This makes prevention through modifiable factors, such as breastfeeding, especially valuable. In addition, longer cumulative durations of breastfeeding are associated with greater reductions in breast cancer risk.

International Breastfeeding Week provides an opportunity to recognise breastfeeding as an important and accessible component of broader cancer prevention strategies. These strategies also include maintaining a healthy lifestyle, participating in regular screening where appropriate and ensuring access to supportive systems.

Breastfeeding as a

sustainable choice

Breastfeeding stands out as one of the most sustainable feeding options available for babies. Unlike commercial formula, breast milk requires no packaging, manufacturing, transportation or disposal of tins or bottles. It is produced locally by the mother’s body, is renewable and is perfectly matched to her baby’s needs.

At the household level, breastfeeding saves families significant financial costs that would otherwise be spent on formula, bottles and sterilising equipment. At the national level, low breastfeeding rates carry substantial economic costs through increased healthcare spending on preventable childhood illnesses and lost productivity resulting from maternal and child illness.

Breastfeeding also supports food security because it is always available and free from supply chain disruptions. It contributes to several Sustainable Development Goals, including those focused on good health, gender equality and responsible consumption and reduced inequalities. In short, breastfeeding is a low-cost, high-impact intervention that strengthens both people and the planet.

Enabling mothers at

home and outside

Supporting mothers to breastfeed successfully requires practical help at home and in the workplace. Many mothers want to breastfeed but face challenges with positioning, latching or concerns about milk supply. Skilled support during the first days and weeks can make an enormous difference. Simple practices, such as immediate skin-to-skin contact after birth and feeding on demand, help establish a good milk supply and promote confident breastfeeding.

Addressing common myths, such as the belief that colostrum is ‘dirty’ or that a mother’s milk is insufficient, through clear and respectful education is essential. Involving the whole family, including fathers and grandmothers, is often effective because decisions about infant feeding frequently involve multiple household members in cultures like ours. Peer support groups, where mothers share experiences with trained staff or other breastfeeding mothers, have shown strong results in helping women overcome early difficulties and continue breastfeeding for longer. Lady health workers can play a vital role when they receive proper training in breastfeeding counselling and are supported through ongoing supervision.

Workplaces also have a critical role to play in enabling breastfeeding. Many mothers return to work while still breastfeeding and need practical accommodations to continue doing so. Paid maternity leave of adequate length gives mothers time to establish breastfeeding before returning to work. Once they return, access to clean, private lactation rooms, paid breastfeeding breaks and flexible scheduling or remote work options, where feasible, can make a significant difference. Supportive workplace cultures that normalise pumping or breastfeeding breaks also reduce the stress many mothers feel about balancing work and breastfeeding. International examples show that when legal protections are paired with practical facilities and positive workplace attitudes, breastfeeding continuation rates improve significantly. In Pakistan, extending such support to women in both the formal and informal sectors would help many more mothers achieve their breastfeeding goals while remaining economically active.

Challenges of breastfeeding

in Pakistan

Pakistan faces real and well-documented challenges in achieving higher breastfeeding rates. Prelacteal feeding - for example, giving newborns substances such as honey, ghutti or other liquids before the first breastfeed - remains common in many communities and delays the start of breastfeeding. Delayed initiation beyond the first hour after birth reduces the likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding. Perceived insufficient milk supply is frequently reported and is often linked to poor latch or a lack of skilled support rather than an actual physiological problem. The early introduction of water, juices or other foods before six months is also widespread. Aggressive marketing of breast-milk substitutes, gaps in healthcare worker training, high rates of caesarean sections that can disrupt early bonding and limited workplace accommodations all contribute to the current situation. These challenges are not insurmountable, but they require coordinated action across families, the healthcare system and policymakers.

Strengthening what works: Lessons from international

best practices

The encouraging news is that many effective approaches already exist around the world and Pakistan can strengthen and adapt successful strategies based on these examples. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, built on the World Health Organization and Unicef’s Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, has supported breastfeeding practices in numerous countries. Hospitals that implement immediate skin-to-skin contact after birth, rooming-in, avoid unnecessary supplements and provide staff with breastfeeding training see higher rates of exclusive breastfeeding from the beginning. Strict enforcement of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes - a global health policy framework adopted in 1981 to protect and promote breastfeeding - helps prevent aggressive marketing tactics by formula companies and ensures that substitutes are used only when medically necessary. Community-based peer counselling programmes have also increased breastfeeding rates in parts of South Asia. Strong maternity protection laws that guarantee adequate paid leave and workplace lactation support have proven effective in many countries. Successful programmes often combine several elements: policy changes, healthcare system improvements, community education that involves entire families and ongoing monitoring to identify what is working and where adjustments are needed. The 2026 theme’s call to “strengthen what works” points precisely to this evidence-based, context-sensitive approach.

In Pakistan, progress is possible by building on existing strengths. Expanding training for healthcare providers and access to skilled breastfeeding support can address many early difficulties. Strengthening enforcement of existing laws on the marketing of breast-milk substitutes and expanding practical workplace support would remove major barriers for many mothers. Integrating breastfeeding counselling into routine antenatal and postnatal care and ensuring that maternity facilities adopt evidence-based practices, would give more babies the best possible start. Monitoring progress through regular data collection, as encouraged by the 2026 theme, would allow policymakers to analyse what is working and focus resources where they are most needed.

A call to action

Every mother deserves the support she needs to breastfeed if she chooses to do so. Every baby deserves the health advantages that breastfeeding provides. Every society - and even the entire planet - benefits when mothers are enabled to nourish their children in this sustainable way.

The protective effect of breastfeeding against certain types of breast cancer, the optimal nutrition and immunity it provides for babies, its economic and environmental advantages and the deep emotional bond it fosters between mother and child are all reasons to treat breastfeeding not as a private matter but as a public health priority worthy of sustained investment.

This International Breastfeeding Week presents an opportunity to strengthen what already works. Let us support mothers with practical help at home and enabling policies in the workplace. Let us advocate for health systems that make breastfeeding the easy and supported choice. Let us recognise breastfeeding as a powerful and accessible practice that protects mothers, gives babies the healthiest possible start in life and contributes to a more sustainable future for everyone. When we strengthen support for breastfeeding, we strengthen families, protect our planet and invest in future generations.

The writer is a LUMS alumna and a community social worker with special interest in public health, philosophy and human rights. She can be reached at [email protected]