Breast feeding awareness week is going on. Everyone is talking about the importance of breastfeeding and also breastfeeding in public. It is commendable that contrary to the past aversion in many women regarding breastfeeding connected to their own body and health, people are indeed showing interest in the topic. So what is the awareness that we need to spread
Exclusive breastfeeding
1. For the first 6 months, the child should be fed exclusively on breastmilk.
2. The more you breastfeed, the more you lose weight
3. The more you breastfeed the more immune your child becomes.
4. You shouldn’t be ashamed of feeding in public.
Well n good. All these points are the best advice to be given to a mother.
But what if a mother is not in a position to exclusively breastfeed the child?
The pressure of the society, the judgements, the frustration of feeling inadequate and what not.
While it is true that breastmilk is the best medicine for the child, we should not judge a mother who is not exclusively breastfeeding her child
She wouldn’t be lactating much to quench the child’s thirst and hunger. The child’s sucking reflex would be week. The child could be in an NICU. The child could have breastmilk intolerance. She might have to have take medications which could be dangerous to child. She could be a working mother who had to rejoin early for work. Worst of all, the mother and child could be having some serious disease which could make breastfeeding all the more dangerous for both.
There could be many genuine reasons for not exclusively breastfeeding the child or weaning early.
Why would the society decide what she should do with her child? Why is it imperative to tab her as a beauty conscious, figure conscious bimbo just because she is not exclusively breast feeding the child/weans early? For some people it is a cruel ecstasy to state how long did they breast feed their child, to a mother who weaned early.
WHAT SHOULD THE MOTHER ACTUALLY DO?
If you are a healthy woman, with ample breastmilk, with a healthy baby whose sucking reflexes are well developed, and also a stay at home mother breastfeed your child exclusively for 6 months.
If you are not any or all of these. Do what’s best for your child and yourself because only a healthy mother can bring up a healthy baby.
DON’T FEEL GULTY.
DON’T LEND YOUR EARS TO JUDGEMENTAL PEOPLE.
DON’T THINK OF YOURSELF AS ANY LESS THAN OTHER MOTHERS.
Breastfeeding in public
If you feel ashamed of breastfeeding in public, there is nothing wrong with you. That’s also your personal choice but yeah, there are indeed options for the same.
We have feeding bibs available these days. If that’s expensive for you, get a ‘PONCHO TOP’. It’s available cheap in the market. Put if over your head and feed your child.
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