For the first six months, every infant must be breastfed exclusively with mother's milk and nothing else, as this will ensure proper growth of the child and help build immunity against various ailments, say doctors. The practice known as exclusive breastfeeding is crucial for the infant's nutrition and early development.

While earlier generations were fed on mother's milk alone, many alternatives for complimentary feeding have captured the market these days. For various reasons, instead of giving mother's milk, parents tend to feed formula foods available in the market to their infants. This is a regressive sign, and our society must not encourage this in any form, say doctors while stressing the importance of mother's milk during the ongoing World Breastfeeding Week.