World Breastfeeding Week: The Need For Breastfeeding Support

We must have all seen that MTR advertisement of a mom with six hands, ready to serve a variety of breakfasts for her family. In the eyes of their family, women are like superheroes, balancing all areas of their lives like champions. But in hard times, they require unconditional and unwavering support from their loved ones too.

When women become mothers, it can be difficult to juggle between taking care of a newborn, household duties and their workplace. On top of that, mothers are to breastfeed their newborns frequently throughout the day. Hence, it becomes crucial to lend a helping hand to these mothers so that they can take care of their health as well.

World Breastfeeding Week is marked every year in the first week of August for this very purpose. It aims to celebrate the diversity of mothers throughout their motherhood journey and garner some much-needed support in such a delicate time in their lives. The theme for World Breastfeeding Week 2024 is “Closing the Gap: Breastfeeding Support For All”. 

Source: Unsplash

World Breastfeeding Week 2024

This year’s theme intends to raise awareness about the support needed for a mother and her baby’s development. It aims to educate society about the stigma surrounding breastfeeding and how one should not shy away from what is nothing but a natural process. The goal is to ensure a safe and healthy experience for the mother and child, both pre and post-pregnancy.

World Breastfeeding Week was first observed in 1992, honouring the Innocenti Declaration, which was signed in August 1990 to protect and support breastfeeding. This includes inclusive work policies, access to quality healthcare and emotional support. It was supported by notable organizations such as WHO and UNICEF, with a common motto to provide meaningful support to mothers and raise awareness about the importance of breastfeeding.

Why Is Breastfeeding Important?

Breastfeeding is extremely important for a baby’s nutrition. In a method known as ‘kangaroo care’, the baby is placed on a mother’s chest right after delivery for skin-to-skin contact. This practice has many benefits, especially for premature births. It helps nurture a baby’s physical health and improves the breastfeeding process. 

We, as mammals, have a unique trait where females can produce milk from their mammary glands, which is beneficial to the sustenance of their offspring. Breastfeeding is recommended for the first six months of a baby’s life. This milk is highly nutritious and contains components that strengthen the baby’s immune system and reduce the risk of various diseases. It also develops and enhances emotional attachment between mother and child.

Source: Envato Elements

Breastfeeding has proven benefits for mothers as well. Breastfeeding reduces the risk of various diseases such as type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, ovarian and breast cancer. It also helps the mother’s body recover to its pre-pregnant state faster. Hence, with these many benefits, breastfeeding should be highly encouraged for both mother and baby’s good health.

Role Of Nutrition In Breastfeeding

Nowadays, in some cases, mothers often aren’t able to produce much milk, or milk that may not be nutritious enough. A mother’s body needs ample nutrients and energy to produce nutritious breast milk. Hence, it is important to consume a diet rich in a variety of nutrients for the baby’s health. Mothers are also advised to drink plenty of water and take sufficient rest to produce the best results for their babies.

Here are some highly nutritious foods mothers can add to their diet:

• Dairy products such as milk, cheese and yoghurt

• Nuts and seeds

• Green vegetables

• Proteins like meat or lentils

• Wholegrain bread and cereals

  
  

  

Source: Envato Elements

A healthy diet ensures a healthy breastfeeding experience. Although breastfeeding has many benefits, society still has a long way to go to normalize this natural process.

Stigma Surrounding Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is considered to be a gift of a lifetime for the baby. Unfortunately, embarrassment about societal implications surrounding breastfeeding often leads women to stop breastfeeding early or to feel shameful about it. It is considered taboo to breastfeed in public, which is very wrong. Breastfeeding is a natural biological process with many benefits, and should not be seen as something of an obscene nature. 

Breastfeeding should be seen as a pure bonding moment between a mother and child. It should be encouraged, especially amongst young mothers, so that the child grows up healthy. While working mothers may not get time to breastfeed as much, equipment such as a breast pump is available so that they can safely store the breast milk to feed the baby later. 

It takes a lot out of mothers, especially those who are working professionals, to efficiently balance everything. A strong support system is required to help them thrive as a mother, and also as a person. Mothers often let go of their own sense of self to make room for new responsibilities while looking after their children. Some mothers even have to leave their jobs for their babies, which is not ideal.

Source: Envato Elements

Here are some areas where we can show our support to encourage breastfeeding:

• Home: The greatest strength of support required is from loved ones. As mentioned earlier, women cannot be expected to be superhuman, handling everything flawlessly. With a newborn in the house, it is crucial to help mothers focus solely on their baby. Fathers and other family members can take charge of household duties and also help out with the baby, to let mothers take much-needed rest for the betterment of their overall health.

• Workplaces: Most workplaces offer paid maternity leave nowadays so mothers can take some time to reintegrate into a big life change. To ensure an easy transition back to the workplace, some flexibilities need to be ensured for a new mother. They should be allowed to freely breast pump at work without any judgment. Other facilities like flexible work timings, work-from-home opportunities and a stress-free work environment will also be greatly beneficial.

• Healthcare providers: Specialized breastfeeding assistance should be given to mothers, especially if it’s their first baby. Babies often find it hard to latch onto the mother, and some techniques need to be used for proper breastfeeding. Hence, support from doctors is initially required.

• Law: Many alternative options to breast milk have emerged in the market, discouraging breastfeeding. The Indian Law has actually banned aggressive advertisements of formula or any other baby foods which market it to be given right from birth, which is a great step forward to increasing the practice of breastfeeding in India.

  
  

  

Source: Envato Elements

Want to know more ways you can help? 

Show Your Support Through Crowdfunding

Many breastfeeding support organizations in India help mothers get the care they need. We can help their noble initiative through a concept known as crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is defined as the practice of raising funds for any cause by pooling small amounts of money from a large number of generous people. 

Breastfeeding organizations help garner support for breastfeeding by raising awareness, allocating resources and promoting its practice to thousands of mothers all over India. These organizations are doing remarkable work but they still need our support. 

This World Breastfeeding Week, let us join hands and raise funds for them so that more mothers can be helped. You can simply start a free fundraiser on India’s leading crowdfunding platform, ImpactGuru, and be the voice for the breastfeeding movement! Let us ensure the health and safety of mother and child, who are the world’s future.