August 1-8 is celebrated as world breastfeeding week, aimed at spreading awareness about breastfeeding. It would seem that in a country like India that celebrates ancient tradition, most people would already know about the importance of breastfeeding. However, there are still many obstacles in achieving optimum breastfeeding which include lack of updated knowledge among healthcare providers, social stigma, lack of community and family support, and misinformation spread by infant food manufacturing companies.
Breastfeeding is the most innate and beautiful process that a woman adapts to, post pregnancy and delivery. Not only is a female blessed with a womb to create a foetus but is also made capable of establishing life by supplying the most essential nutrients to her baby. Aren’t we all, where we are, just because we were created and accepted by our mothers? Breastfeeding is an immensely vital yet a highly stigmatized phenomenon in the present day. Not only are mothers doubtful of their own breast milk but have also begun resorting to infant food formulas under the influence of the baby food industry misinterpreting the effects of breast milk over substitutes.
As members of the organisation Switch India, when they saw the message to volunteer to give a talk on “Breastfeeding and its Advantages,” two Switch Members Swetha Muthu from Madras Medical College, Chennai and Sheryl Vincent Chettiar from Vikhe Patil Hospital, Ahmednagar thought it would be a great opportunity to express themselves and to educate the common people about a topic which they were well acquainted with. With the confirmation from these members to volunteer for this online awareness talk, a message was released over WhatsApp to inform the general population about the upcoming talk.
Soon Swetha and Sheryl discussed about the same and decided on the content to speak on. On 07th August, 2020, the talk was scheduled at 6:30 PM over Free Conference Call App. Both the speakers were excited and eager to do this. They had decided their sections to speak on and were all set to reach out and conduct this webinar and make it a success. The webinar was hosted by Truptee Parekh & Deep Sagar, the Awareness Cell Heads on the board of Switch India Committee along with the guidance of Dr. Vidhi Dave.
Swetha and Sheryl said, “We began the session with a Gratitude List, asking participants to list what they were most grateful for. We got some truly inspiring answers. After this, we proceeded to cover everything we possibly could about breastfeeding in the time given to us: contents of breastmilk, colostrum, recommended duration of breastfeeding, methods of breastfeeding, benefits for the mother and baby, medical considerations, and the social stigma attached to breastfeeding. At the end of the session, we had a fun myth busting round, in which we disproved popular misconceptions with facts and science.”
“The Breastfeeding awareness session gave us an opportunity to convey to new mothers the highly constructive advantages of breast milk not only for the baby but for the mother too and if provided effectively, forms the most ideal nutrition for the baby. Nowadays, mothers have largely shown to use pacifiers, artificial nipples and cluster feeding methods without knowing the proper usage techniques and the most ideal time of introduction.” they added.
Sheryl and Swetha continued, “We concluded the session with a round of very intriguing questions from the participants, which we answered by taking turns. In the end, it was really heartwarming to see the thank you messages praising us for conducting the webinar.”
Both the speakers said, “63% women have accepted breastfeeding publicly! A major number are still intimidated due to the actual or potential objections by other people, negative comments, or harassments. Its high time we normalize breastfeeding in public and provide a safe environment for the women around us . All in all, we hope we could deliver this session as a wake-up call to women to get their myths busted and facts rephrased!”
A big thanks to Dr. Devang K. Shah(MD) D.C.H for reviewing our talk’s content, ensuring us that we gave out the right kind of information to the attendees, and for suggesting some more important pointers to be added.
” I hope I was able to provide accurate knowledge about the usage of external objects and milk substitutes only in cases where there is no alternative”, said Sheryl.
“I’d like to thank Switch India for giving me the opportunity to present and in doing so, learn so much about breastfeeding myself. Truptee, Deep Sagar, and Vidhi guided us throughout our preparation. I would especially like to thank Vidhi, the sweetest guide one could ask for. This webinar was amazing for me as a presenter, as I got to learn so much, and hopefully for the viewers too.” added Swetha.
