The health topic that I chose for this
week is BREASTFEEDING. This topic is very close to my heart as I now
have two young boys myself whom I have breastfed. During the time I
was breastfeeding them, my mother was shocked to see how determined
and committed I was to do so. I cannot blame her for feeling that way
because thirty (30) years ago when my mother had me, majority of middle class
working women in the third world countries, weren't aware of the
benefits of breastfeeding. It was a big trend for babies to be given
formula milk instead and also mainly because it was more convenient. The women
were only given sixty (60) working days of maternity leave from the company.
My mother although had just given birth, she still had to do so much
of housework as we lived in a combined family house (our family and
our extended families lived under one roof). Everyone had to chip in
to do the housework and she was no exception. Hence, she never had
the time after work or the energy to breastfeed me and my siblings.
She regretted it until now. And when I was so determined to do my
best to breastfeed my boys, my mother was in awe and so proud of me.
She is still working till today but she took time off to be there
with me from the time of my delivery, to take care of me so that I am
well rested to concentrate on feeding and tending to my babies' needs. She
didn't have this luxury before and I feel so bad for her.
Although breastfeeding awareness has
reached majority of the women in the world, in some parts, public
breastfeeding is still frowned upon. In Asian countries such as
Malaysia, public breastfeeding is quite rare and even if they do feed
their babies in public areas, they do so discreetly under their shirt
or a cover. Click on this link to read more on how public
breastfeeding are being tackled in other countries http://culturalbreastfeeding.webs.com/publicbreastfeeding.htm
Breastfeeding has direct impact on the
health of a child which will eventually affect the children
when they are in school. I will continue to support and create
awareness about breastfeeding and its benefits through my future work in my community.
Hello: Yes, I really enjoyed reading your story and I too was a breast fed baby, It's so true how breast feeding in public has been frown upon. I sorry to hear that your mother had a difficult time in her struggle, but she was still a good mom and a very strong woman. I know it meant a lot for her to be with you when you gave birth. Although it's been 30 years since she live in those condition has her situation change for the better? penneywashington.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. Most women don't know the facts behind breastfeeding. I think the more we educate women, the more women will probably do it. I think its a great bonding time for the mother and child.
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