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DHAKA, Aug 30, 2025 (BSS) – Breast milk is of essence for babies’ nutrition as there is no alternative to breast milk for babies to grow up properly with flourishing talent. 
 
Today's children are the future of tomorrow. So, for a beautiful future, every child must be raised with care.Every child must be given a balanced diet to grow up from his birth.
 
After birth, every child desperately needs mother's breast milk for their proper nutrition. But in modern days, many women are busy with services.Many of them also have to go to the office or work. So, many of them cannot breastfeed their children properly. That’s why; they have to rely on various canned or packet milk of the market.
 
Salma Akhter has to depend on milks bought from markets. She is an officer in a private office. She spends most of the day in the office, so to 'ensure nutrition’; Salma feeds her five-month-old son powdered milk. A sentence is written in its packet saying 'Can be given from birth'! Salma uses a plastic feeder to feed her baby where it is written that it is “For Angel”
 
Confused by such flashy advertisements and misinformation, many parents also give alternative baby food to their beloved children.But, these can’t ensure nutrition for babies. So, many children are suffering from malnutrition, and their immunity is also decreasing.
 
There is a ban on in publishing tempting advertisements or promotion of canned or packaged powdered milk, other foods and equipment for children as an alternative to breast milk. The law clearly stated that the packaging and canned products must bear the words 'There is no food equivalent to or better than breast milk for children.' 
 
It must also be written 'This (can/packet) food is not completely free of pathogens. There is a risk of the child getting sick if it is consumed.' 
 
There are also guidelines for the marketing and purchase of alternative baby food. However, various general stores and supermarkets in the capital showed that the companies and sellers marketing alternative baby food and equipment are not following these guidelines.
 
None of the buyers and sellers knows much about the law in this regard.There is also no government or private initiative to promote the law that is beneficial for child health. Therefore, this law called 'Sale and Marketing of Breast Milk Alternative Baby Food' seems to be limited to paper.
 
Those concerned said that even after several years, there is not much publicity about the Alternative Baby Food Act. Therefore, ordinary shopkeepers are displaying and selling these powdered milk and other foods in shops without knowing it.
 
At the same time, those are being sold in various super shops. Parents and guardians of children are also not aware of these foods as an alternative to breast milk.
 
Doctors and nutritionists said that breast milk is the best nutritious food for a child from birth to two years.Powdered milk as an alternative is very harmful for children. This milk reduces the immunity of newborns.Children get sick frequently, and their physical development does not occur properly, they said.
 
There are generally two types of alternative baby food available in the market. One is powdered milk made with a 'special formula' for children aged six months, one year or two years from birth. The other is 'formula food' given as a supplementary food along with breast milk for children over six months.
 
In this context, Dr Helal Uddin Ahmed said, "Any food that has nutritional value will help in mental development. But alternative baby food is of no importance for the development of a child up to two years. For this, mother's breast milk is sufficient”.
 
“No other food has the nutrition that is close to the nutrition in mother's breast milk. However, in cases where the mother is ill or the mother is taking any medication that prevents the child from being breastfed, measures should be taken according to the doctor's advice. There are initiatives all over the world to ensure that children are breastfed after birth. In 1981, the World Health Organization in Geneva developed a policy to control the marketing of alternative foods to breast milk, which is known as the 'International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes'.”
 
Ahmed said in light of that policy, the 'Breast Milk Substitutes (Marketing Guidelines) Act' was enacted in Bangladesh in 1984. “The law was amended on October 22, 2013. The law stipulates the control of the marketing of alternative foods to protect the health of children up to five years.”
 
Bangladesh Breast Feeding Foundation (BBF) oversees the marketing activities of alternative baby foods with its own initiative and cooperation from the government.
 
Former Chairperson of BBF SK Roy said that about three million children are born in the country every year.Therefore, the number of two-year-old children reaches about 6 million every year, he said.
 
He said it’s a challenge to ensure each of this large number of children is breastfed for two years. Parents themselves are unaware of this issue, he added.
 
Moreover, he said, the promotion and awareness activities of the law depend on the allocation of manpower and money. The government is trying to increase the allocation, he added.
 
He said that BBF and the Public Health Nutrition Institute are preparing a five-year strategy to increase the promotion in this regard.