Breastfeeding in Lao PDR is widely socially accepted and strongly supported by government policy. While most infants are breastfed, the practice is often sub-optimal: slow initiation, pre-lacteal feeding, and mixed feeding are common.

Findings indicate that the key drivers of child undernutrition in Myanmar, where prevalence of child stunting is 28% and wasting is 7%, are multifaceted and start in utero.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, policy makers and practitioners must learn from mistakes made during the HIV pandemic, when breastfeeding was undermined through isolating infants from their mothers, and formula feeding resulted in more infant deaths than the disease.

Breastfeeding is a powerful weapon in the fight to ensure every child has the best possible start to life, but mothers need access to accurate information and timely support from their family and community; the healthcare system; and their employers.

This overview paper summarizes and builds on papers from the Stop Stunting Conference of 2014, advocating to focus on child feeding, women's nutrition, and household sanitation as investment areas to prevent child stunting in South Asia.