Mothers need to donate milk banks to save tender lives and mothers with surplus milk should donate milk generously. Breastfeeding saves lives. Its benefits help keep babies healthy in their first days and last well into adulthood. But breastfeeding requires support, encouragement, and guidance. With these basic steps, implemented properly, we can significantly improve breastfeeding rates around the world and give children the best possible start in life. Why then so much controversy is created in India for the sake of creating. Shun the taboo and accept the challenge instead of becoming a carping critic all the time. In many hospitals and communities around the world, whether a child can be breastfed or not can make the difference between life and death. Better sense should prevail to save babies in need of breast milk.
When women are asked to go to the feeding room and feed, it is almost like the society is collectively teaching us to hide this very natural thing. This has to change. But to avoid all the controversies, it is better to have a separate breastfeeding lounge in public places, just like the smoking lounges. Better council should prevail in this matter and it should not be treated as an obscene one. Even a postal stamp was released in 1984 by the Indian government to stress that breastfeeding is the best. Why then this controversy.
The issue with public breastfeeding is less about whether the act is legal or not-ultimately that is a technical issue. The main concern lies in how the act of breastfeeding-so natural a part of the development many species-is regarded as ‘disgusting’ and ‘indecent’. When the exposure of a woman’s breasts during breastfeeding is considered to be lewder than a model revealing them for the pleasure of others. But breastfeeding requires support, encouragement, and guidance. With these basic steps, implemented properly, we can significantly improve breastfeeding rates around the world and give children the best possible start in life.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)