The Common Misconceptions

About Breastfeeding.

- Romola Shanbhag

Some years back, when our maid delivered a baby , she was back at work within a week.

“Who's taking care of the baby?” I asked her with some trepidation.

“ My eldest daughter,” she said confidently.

“And the baby's feeds?” “Memsa'ab, I've bought a tin of baby milk powder, the one we see in TV ads,” she said proudly. It cost a lot but we want the best for our little son.”

I was shocked. Breast milk was wetting her kurta with large damp patches. I pointed to this wordlessly, but she reiterated that they wanted to give the baby the thick nutritious milk which came from a tin. 

It took a lot of convincing before she reluctantly agreed to go back home to be the baby's food provider.

Many ignorant women were wooed by such aggressive sales tactics in those days but thankfully the government has now banned advertising of milk food products which entice many ignorant mothers into stopping breast feeding in favour of the bottle.

This is a good step forward. Now, mothers are educated that the “thin, watery breast milk” is a hundred times more nutritious for the baby than commercial milk.