Breast-feeding is the proud privilege of every mother. It gives her an opportunity to fondle her little one with tender care and looks forward to his growth and development with high expectations.
It is now common practice to infer the social status of women from their demographic characteristics. Yet it is not so easy to read through demographic progress, in terms of declines in mortality and fertility, to make unambiguous judgments about trends in women's social standing.
Medical and public health experts advocate breastfeeding as the best method of feeding young infants for a wide variety of reasons.
The practice of breast-feeding is almost universal in India. Protecting, promoting and supporting breast-feed in should be the foremost aim of all the communities. Compare the body of a lactating mother to a baby food factory and we find that she is far and away the most efficient [1].
Breast-feeding has its socioeconomic, psychological, biological and immunological aspects. Human milk is known to be an ideal, safe and complete food for infants and being available at a suitable temperature, it helps promote normal dental and facial development.
Status literally means position in relation to others. The status enjoyed by women in any society is an index of the standard of its social organisation.
The rapid growth of population is one of the major problems facing the country today. India is at the turning point in its population development. As early as 1970, the birth rate showed a distinct downward trend, and continued to fall further to its present lowest.