Only 40% of Gurgaon mothers breastfeed their babies

GURGAON:According to a study, only 40% of women in metros like Gurgaon and Delhi feed their children with breast milk after six months. Thirty-year-old Gurgaon-based marketing executive Sarita Rawat has to pay a visit to the hospital twice every day to breastfeed her premature child. While Sarita is currently on maternity leave, she has to soon report for work and is thus planning to store her breast milk for her baby in bottles, which he can consume when she is at work.
“If I had the option of quitting my job to stay with my child, I wouldn’t even have thought twice about feeding him for at least a year. But I can’t be without work; it’s sad that there is no alternative but to put him on baby food as early as possible, because as he grows up, he’ll need to be fed more often, and breastfeeding will no longer be viable,” said Sarita. The World Breastfeeding Week is being observed from August 1 to 7, to create awareness about the importance of breastfeeding babies. Breast milk affects the physical and mental development of a child in a positive way. According to Aarushi Agarwal, marketing director for Philips Mothercare products, “Around 60% of women in the metros don’t feed their children with breast milk after six months, as opposed to 90% in small towns and almost 100% in villages who are breastfeeding their children.” The reasons, as she further added, are many.
“The problem of inadequate breastfeeding is common among working women, who have to leave their child at home after a couple of months and return to work. A lot of women also stop breastfeeding because of various other medical complications like inadequate milking and cracked nipples, to name a few,” said Aarushi. Breastfeeding is not just important for the child, but is also important for the mothers.
“We all know that a child needs breast milk for immunity and development of the brain, but few realize that it’s a great way for mothers to lose all those extra kilos that one gains during pregnancy,” said Dr Kaushikee Dwivedee, senior consultant, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Max healthcare, Gurgaon.
She further explained that producing breast milk also helps the uterus regain its post-pregnancy size. “It also reduces the risk of anaemia, pre-menopausal breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and fractures,” added Dr Dwivedee. However, a number of women claimed to have stopped feeding their babies after 4-6 months, fearing the fact that no amount of exercise will help them regain the pre-pregnancy breast shape. “I had my first child at the age of 35 and it seemed impossible to lose the pregnancy weight. Though I did feed my child for over a year, I was advised by a friend that breast feeding causes irreparable damage to the breast shape, especially when the biological clock is ticking,” said a mother of two.