Pre-lacteal diet Pre-lacteal feeding is when the baby is given any other food or liquid other than breast milk. This includes water, honey, formula milk or fruit juice. When the baby is fed anything other than breast milk such as rehydration solution (ORS), drops and syrups (vitamins, minerals and medicines), it is known as pre-lacteal feeding. However, it is important that you exclusively breastfeed for 6 months, then introduce complementary foods and continue to breastfeed your baby until he is 2 years old.

Exclusive breastfeeding means that no other food or drink, not even water, should be given other than breast milk for the first 6 months of life, with some exceptions such as rehydration solution (ORS), drops and syrups (vitamins, minerals and medicines).

Many babies are given pre-lacteal feeds in the first few days after birth. This is prevalent in both high-income and low-income countries and involves giving the baby honey or jaggery water or ghee or herbal products.

Speaking to Times Now, Dr Monika Jani, Gynaecologist and Obstetrician at Bhailal Amin General Hospital, Vadodara, explains how pre-breastfeeding diet can impact the baby’s health.

Dr Jani says, “These feedings are influenced by many cultural factors and are subject to many other factors such as the antenatal care and counselling given to the mother. Often we find that patients who undergo C-section are unconscious or in a lot of pain and are not keen to feed the baby as soon as possible.”

In such a situation, caregivers resort to pre-lacteal feeding. Here, take a look at the impact of pre-lacteal feeding on the health of babies.

Babies who drink only milk instead of breast feeding are more prone to infections. This is because when you breastfeed, there is no intermediary between the mother and the baby. But for pre-lacteals, you have to rely heavily on supplements as well.

Dr Jani says that some babies are allergic to them and we see a lot of such cases. Babies who are not breastfed but drink complementary milk are also at a higher risk of infection. Also, they drink too much milk, so they are at risk of childhood obesity. This is because sometimes it is due to drinking too much milk. They are also at risk of diabetes and sudden infant death syndrome.

“All these things should be used as preventive measures. We should educate women so that they know the benefits of breastfeeding.”

It is a common belief that if the mother is not breastfeeding properly, people think that the baby will remain hungry and will be given pre-lacteal food like honey which gives calories immediately. Apart from this, there are a lot of social beliefs and practices. When babies are given such food, the baby aspirates and becomes very sick with pneumonia. We have also seen mortality due to aspirates due to such pre-lacteal feeding. In a healthy infant, the sucking reflex usually comes very quickly. So, what we recommend to new mothers is to breastfeed your baby whenever he cries.

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