Pre-Lacteal Feeding

The indicator assesses the proportion of young children who in the first three days of life did not receive any food or liquid (i.e. pre-lacteal feeds) other than breast milk. Pre-lacteal feeds increase the risk of diarrhoea and other health and life-threatening diseases.

Collect the following data by conducting individual interviews with a representative sample of mothers of children aged 0-23.99 months:

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTION (Q) AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS (A)

Q1: What did your youngest baby eat and drink in the first three days after birth?

A1:

1) only breast milk

2) fluids/meals other than breast milk

3) breast milk and other fluids/meals

Calculate the indicator’s value by dividing the number of children who were fed with breastmilk only by the total number of respondents and multiplying the result by 100.

Disaggregate the data by the delivery place (home, health centre, hospital), presence of a skilled birth attendant during delivery (present/ absent; use for home deliveries only), location (rural/ urban) and socio-economic characteristics (e.g. level of education).

1) If the percentage is above 20% then addressing pre-lacteal feeding should be given priority; however, it needs to be discussed in the context.

2) This indicator relies on accurate age assessment. Since people often do not remember the exact dates of their children’s birth, the data collectors should always verify the child’s age. This can be done by reviewing the child’s birth certificate, vaccination card or another document; however, since many caregivers do not have such documents (and since they can include mistakes), it is essential that your data collectors are able to verify the child’s age by using local events calendars. Read FAO’s Guidelines (see below) to learn how to prepare local events calendars and how to train data collectors in their correct use.