The dinner-table conversation every new mother and their spouse should have while pregnant.
Breastfeeding comes with its own pros but doesn’t come without baggage. I mean, what is life without some spicy, oily food, mouth-watering cuisine, and chilled beverages? And who can ignore tolerating screaming headaches with no medicines!
A nursing mother!
A nursing mother has a lot to report about breastfeeding problems that spouses, family can start taking notes on and employers, society, policy makers must pay heed to the mind-numbing condition.
And why does everyone need to listen?
Because it takes a village to raise a child!
Moreover, the rate of exclusive breastfed infants for the first 6 months has decreased in India since 2012. This decline is reported in the states like Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal among others. According to reports by WHO and UNICEF, undernutrition in children due to inadequate breastfeeding contributed to 11.6% of child deaths i.e. 8 lakhs in 2011.
As we are observing World Breastfeeding Week 2023 which is celebrated worldwide in the 1st week of August, Dr. Palani Rajan , Consultant Pediatrics and Neonatologist at NU Hospital, Ambur shared the importance of breastfeeding.“Breastfeeding helps protect the infant and mother against several illnesses and diseases. This way breastfed infants have a lower risk of Asthma, Obesity, Type 1 diabetes, Severe lower respiratory disease,Acute otitis media, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Gastrointestinal infections, Necrotizing enterocolitis for preterm infants. Further, mothers also have a lower risk of Breast cancer, Ovarian cancer, Type 2 diabetes, High blood pressure etc.”
BREASTFEEDING IMPORTANCE & BENEFITS.
The best nourishment your baby can get for the exclusive first six months is Breastmilk. It strengthens and encourages brain development with lifelong benefits for the mother and the baby. Further, it also aids the mothers to recover from childbirth.
The World Health Organization (WHO) advises avoiding any food or fluids other than breastmilk unless medically indicated.
Breastfeeding is an effective way to stimulate and boost children’s growth and development in a healthy way.
Mothers should initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
Further, sufficient and safe complementary foods can be provided from the age of 6 months, with breastfeeding continuing up to 2 years of age or beyond.
WHY BREASTFEEDING ACTS LIKE YOUR DEBIT CARDS:
1. Easy & Readily Acceptable:
Breastmilk is like instant cash for your baby. You make daily withdrawals. Your well-fed baby gets ample nourishment and sleepy, and mommies like you (hopefully) get happy.
2. No paying interest on accumulated balance:
Since breastmilk is regularly expressed and fed to the baby, it does not accumulate in your body. Meaning, less pain, swelling, or heating up of breasts. These are the symptoms of a condition called mastitis because of a blocked milk duct which is one of the troublesome problems if improperly breastfed.
3. Convenient & Safe:
After feeding milk, and toiling at work, mothers including working professionals also have option of storing their breastmilk for babies making it convenient for them. This is where breastfeeding pumping equipment offers great help in expressing and storing breastmilk when you’re away but still your baby can be fed.
And at times like your credit cards:
Nursing mothers can opt to outsource breastmilk for their little ones.
Breastmilk: A guilt free option for working mothers
To address the rising children's death rate and premature babies that require breastmilk immediately, CMC in Vellore had established a Milk Bank way back in the 1980s. In this bank, donor mothers are screened for no infections before breastmilk donation. Once they express their milk using the pump, it is pasteurized and stored under -20 degrees centigrade in the banks.
Mothers who are producing excess milk more than their baby can consume, can volunteer to donate their breastmilk safely. However, there are certain guidelines for donor mothers which are to be followed for donors’ own health and the recipient’s safety.
There are Mother’s milk banks in 7 government hospitals that offer breastmilk by mothers for newborns who are ill and in the neonatal ICU of the hospital.
It’s time families don’t force working women professionals to make binary decisions between her work life and motherhood; and instead support women along the journey. Apart from coping with bodily changes due to childbirth, emotional highs and lows, working women professionals in India face many other challenges such as breastfeeding their babies and they are
Lack of information and awareness of the importance and benefits of breastfeeding
Lack of support from family members, employers, and co-workers
Lack of adequate maternity leave and wage protection, especially in the informal sector
Lack of facilities and resources at the workplace, such as pumping equipment, nursing rooms, storage facilities, and creches
CONCLUSION:
While there are many areas that need solid improvements and regulations on both sides of the home. It is the gradual, small but consistent steps we all need to take so as to normalize breastfeeding in general, and including for mothers.
Connect with us on social media platforms and comment or DM us what breastfeeding problems you face.