This was an eye-opening session and such deep insights from the experts! Evolution is good, and technology is good, but somewhere we are forgetting the very basics of our bodies! Yes, we are evolving but we are still part of nature and have to be part of nature, the more we realize this, the better our existence!
Do you know that all mammals feed their babies, the duration may vary, but all mammals rely on their mothers for a certain duration. This is how nature works, if you have offspring, you feed the little one till they can be completely independent. In some animals, each parent takes turns feeding the little one!
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Can you imagine, the moment the woman bears the baby inside her womb, her whole body is completely transformed to support the growing life inside! Literally, every cell in her body is working towards providing a safe environment for the baby, and yes the mother is taken a back seat, because now the baby is the priority, because the baby needs that care to grow to a full life!
Why are we talking about the basics of nature?
In the name of evolution, our society as a whole is failing when it comes to providing support to new mothers. There are no benefits or facilities in society to support a breastfeeding mother. Although in recent years, awareness of breastfeeding has increased, the support for breastfeeding mothers is not looked upon or has taken a back seat. Supporting mothers only by talking is not going to make much difference, society as a whole should understand the importance of breastfeeding or feeding the mother’s milk to the baby.
What kind of support does a breastfeeding mother need?
For example - working mothers are not encouraged enough to continue to breastfeed, or there is no facility at the workplace to support breastfeeding mothers. It is not easy to continue to breastfeed if the mother has to be at her work after her maternity leave.
The production of milk works on a demand-and-supply basis, and when the mother is at work, she is not provided the facility to pump her breastmilk, or an option to work from home till her breastfeeding journey, so when she is unable to pump her breastmilk on a regular basis, slowly her body reduces the supply, and you know what happens next.
One should understand not everyone is working for career growth, there are many mothers who are working to support the financial needs of the family, and birthing a child is a woman’s biology, so the workplace should be accommodative of the changes she goes through during this phase.
It does not matter whether a woman is career-oriented or working to support the financial needs of her family, irrespective of the scenario, every mother needs care and support, because it is crucial for the mother and the baby. Everyone is responsible to provide the best food for the growing baby!
We as a society should support, all of us whether married, unmarried, parents or non-parents, everyone should understand the importance of breastfeeding a newborn! It is not only important but needed because of the growing ailments across humanity, human milk is the best medicine that babies can have!
Coming to the question - Can all women breastfeed?
We had a session with Lactation Experts and can you guess what did they say?
Yes, all women can breastfeed, including virgins, transgenders, and everyone unless there is some medical condition that can impact the lactation hormones and in those cases, women may not be able to breastfeed.
How liberating is that right? But, do you think If there was no option for formula milk, do you think breastfeeding would have been encouraged and accepted in a better way? Do you think this would have encouraged breastmilk donation or sharing of breastmilk, helping the mothers who are not in a position to breastfeed, helping, encouraging them, and feeling good about feeding breastmilk to their baby irrespective of whether they are able to breastfeed or not? Something to think about.
One cannot blame the mother/woman alone for not breastfeeding. As a society, it is everyone’s responsibility to care for and support mothers so that their breastfeeding journey becomes easier, which in turn can encourage many other women to breastfeed.
A change starts at home, if you know any mother who is struggling to breastfeed, you have to support her, help her, so that she feels encouraged to breastfeed, and not make her feel guilty if she is doing it wrong. Remember, if a mother is not happy, or healthy, it can have an impact on milk production. Because it is not just the body that is producing the milk, her emotions are involved too, if she is happy, she feels good about herself, she eats well, and it has a positive impact on the breastmilk.
So, you tell us do you want happy mothers to raise a child or mothers who feel guilty. There is a strong connection between a mother and her child, this connection lasts for quite some time, and is stronger when breastfed, the baby can feel the mother, her emotions, her health, everything, so by supporting a mother, you are indirectly supporting the next generation!
We were truly enlightened by the conversation we had with the Lactation experts on our Instagram live session, watch our complete conversation here.
