State of affairs: Spilling 'first milk'

Without a care in the world and with all the happiness.

In Tamil Nadu, the percentage of infants who were breast-fed within one hour of birth dropped in 2015-16 compared to a decade ago. Only two more States - Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand - witnessed a drop in this indicator in NFHS-4.

NFHS-4 (2015-16)

According to National Family Health Survey-4, on an average, about 54.7% of infants in T.N. (under 3 years at the time of survey) were breastfed within one hour birth - 0.5% points less than NFHS-3.

NFHS-3 (2005-06)

In the last survey, 55.2% of infants were breast-fed within one hour of birth - 0.5 % points more than recent survey. Only Himachal and Uttarakhand experienced similar drops.

Change in rankings

This time around, Tamil Nadu slipped 6 places and was placed in the 12th position among the 28 States (including Delhi). A.P. and Telangana ignored for rankings and past figures.

Source: WHO, NFHS-4