For most moms, everything is mostly peaceful in their breastfeeding journey until they get back to their Job. In an office setup, as we all are aware, there is no appropriate place for mothers to pump/nurse their baby at work. Sadly, most mothers go through a dip in their milk as they are not able to feed. Though they may express their concerns to the office manager, there seem to be no serious measures taken to provide a small private space to express milk.
Labor policies that recognize the role of breastfeeding represent that it is an investment in the lifelong health of every individual. Allowed in the course of her daily work with two breaks of the prescribed duration for nursing the child until the child attains the age of fifteen months. Article 42 of the Constitution of India 1949, MATERNITY BENEFIT ACT, 1961
There is no space for breastfeeding, not just in the workplace, most of the public places like metro stations, local bus stops, restaurants, shopping malls, etc. have no facility for breastfeeding/pumping.
Mothers cannot deny the request of the baby who demands to be fed whenever required. In a country like India, especially in many regions, Nursing in public is often frowned upon as something which is a disturbing scene to everyone. Society expects us not to Nurse in public but at the same time, they do not provide any space for that.
It’s the mother and the child who ultimately gets affected in the end. They do not want to offer their child formula milk when they have all the capability to breastfeed the baby.
I feel it is also the right of the baby to receive total nutrition from the mother’s milk for as long as the mother wants to feed the baby. Every mother and child is like us and expects support from society. I’m writing this on behalf of all the suffering mothers & children.
There is also one major problem we are facing in our society, there are no baby changing stations and kids’ toilets when we take our babies out. Mothers are having difficulty assessing toilets for their babies, so it ends in cross-contamination & illness.
Hence I strongly feel we should work together to provide an area where mothers can easily change a diaper, take their children to clean toilets, and/or can breastfeed without being judged/mocked.
I would be extremely happy if we can join hands and take ahead this initiative to spread awareness and encourage the necessity of breastfeeding/Express milk wherever needed and provide a safe place to nurse the baby. I would kindly like you to take this request to the appropriate person in the society/government and find a solution for this at the earliest as possible.
I’m providing services in 4 main languages (Telugu, Tamil, Hindi & English) and we are proud that we were able to help blind & deaf moms with support. Yes, the digital platform helped me a lot to reach every mom in need. We were able to support Moms in rural and urban areas where transportation and lactation support was not available in hospitals, still, we were able to reach out to every single door by just a call away. While connecting to every mom, I was able to maintain & build good trust with moms and I had become like their family member. Sometimes, although I may not be there with them physically, still I was able to help every mom to overcome their breastfeeding issue.