Last week, protests were witnessed across Argentina by groups of women who breastfed their babies in public. They were agitating against the police’s move to throw out a mother from a square in Buenos Aires for nursing her infant in public.
Carrying signboards that said, “Nursing is not up for discussion” and “My breasts, My rights”, over 500 women took to the streets in different parts of the country demanding respect for mother’s rights.
Breastfeeding is a simple, no-cost intervention that boosts the health of children and women substantially, in rich and poor countries. Yet there is little awareness about this. And as we get set to observe World Breastfeeding Week (August 1-7) around the world, experts are calling for programs that encourage ideal breastfeeding practices.
Studies in The Lancet point out that increasing breastfeeding to optimum levels could save over 800, 000 lives every year, most of them children under six months. Also, nearly half of all diarrheal diseases and one-third of respiratory infections in children in low- and middle-income countries could be prevented.
Babies who get no breast milk at all are seven times more likely to die from infections than those who get some in their first six months.
Children who are breastfed also do better at intelligence tests, are less likely to be overweight and less likely to get diabetes later in life. The benefits to mothers are also huge. They show lower risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers.
The awareness is especially abysmal in low-income countries, like India. And it does not help that the government has not aggressively promoted breastfeeding. The focus on bringing down maternal and child deaths has been heavily directed towards promoting institutional deliveries, antenatal check-ups and neonatal care.
There are many barriers that come in the way of early breastfeeding in India and this helps explain why signs of childhood malnutrition like stunting (45%) and wasting (20%), that depend significantly on early breastfeeding, remain high.
According to studies, only one in four mothers are able to start breastfeeding within one hour of giving birth and less than half of all mothers are able to exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first six months after birth.
Supportive health-care systems, workplace interventions, counseling and educational programs are needed to improve breastfeeding. The government’s recent moves to bring changes to the Maternity Benefit Act of 1961 are welcome steps.
There is also a need to break the wider social shame that exists around breastfeeding in public, something the UN has also acknowledged by backing the social trend of belfies – mothers sharing pictures of themselves breastfeeding. It is a welcome step towards ending that stigma and spreading the word about the importance of a mother’s milk.