Breastfeeding in times of COVID-19: Will new-born’s miss out on vital nutrition

Abstract

The road to motherhood amid the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic was arduous for Soni Devi, 22, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra. She became a mother for the first time on April 30, 2020. There was no ambulance service to take Soni to the healthcare centre when she went into labour amid the countrywide lockdown. After a couple of hours, as her family was preparing for the possibility of a home delivery, a grass roots level local non-profit partner of Child Rights and You (CRY) — Sonbhadra Vikas Samiti (SVS) — intervened. A few frantic phone calls later, a transport arrived.