Prevalence, trend, and inequality of prolonged exclusive breastfeeding among children aged 6-23 months old in India from 1992-2021: A cross-sectional study of nationally representative, individual-level data.

Background: Prolonged exclusive breastfeeding (PEB) for children older than six months old is a threat to appropriate complementary feeding practices. This study aims to examine the trend of PEB among children aged 6-23 months in India.

Methods: We adopted five waves of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data between 1992-93 and 2019-21. PEB was defined as children aged six months and above currently consuming breastmilk as the only source of energy, protein and micronutrients. We generated descriptive statistics and a series of multivariable logistic regressions to estimate the prevalence and trend in the PEB rate. Moreover, we assessed how child age and socioeconomic factors (i.e. child gender and age, place of residence, household wealth, and maternal education) were related with PEB using mutually and single-adjusted model.

Results: There were 184 891 Indian children aged 6-23 months old included in this study with 48.0% being female. We found that the proportion of PEB increased from 4.3% in 1992 to 7.7% in 2021, of which the rate for children aged six-eight months rose from 14.0 to 20.1%. Our results showed that children who were from poorer households or with lower-educated mothers were more likely to experience prolonged exclusive breastfed. Take the year of 2019-21 as an example, compared to the households of the richest quintile, children from households of the poorer quintile were significantly more likely to experience PEB, with odds ratio (OR) of 1.33 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.09-1.61). Moreover, children with illiterate mothers had 21% higher odds of having prolonged exclusively breastfeeding (OR = 1.21; 95% CI = 1.01-1.44) compared with children with mothers who have college and above education.

Conclusions: PEB among children over six months old is prevalent in India, particularly among children from disadvantaged households. Poverty reduction and maternal education are of great potential importance for policymakers to promote appropriate complementary feeding practice.