“Sometimes I feel like I’m completely empty inside. My baby screams and cries because of hunger, but I don’t have enough milk to fill him up.”
This is what Rabia Fahad has to say, who became a mother four months ago and is currently engaged in a continuous struggle to breastfeed her baby.
She says that sometimes I get up and entertain her and sometimes I try to keep her quiet, sometimes I try to feed her from one side and sometimes from the other side. But in the mean time he gets tired so I have to give him milk from a carton. My milk was not enough for him to drink to his fill.
Dr. Shabina Arif is attached to Aga Khan Hospital Karachi. She says that 98% of mothers express milk after childbirth, but 2% of mothers have problems in this regard, either they do not express milk at all or the quantity is very low.
Dr. Shabina says that if three things are followed, the milk comes very well.
How useful is breastfeeding for the mother’s health?
Mother’s milk is necessary for the health of the child, but if the mother is not able to breastfeed the child, or if she is not able to breastfeed properly, her own health may also be affected.
From the time of conception to the birth of the child, the mother goes through a process in which she has to face severe mental and physical pain. Breastfeeding is the biggest challenge for a baby after birth and sometimes due to lack of proper guidance, this process becomes painful for the mother.
When Quratul Ain was going to become a mother for the first time, she thought that she would breastfeed the baby.
“With the rest of the preparations before he came into the world, my mind was completely set that I had to give him my own milk because I knew the benefits of breast milk for the baby,” she says.
She says that after giving birth, it is a difficult task. I don’t know the right way. How to latch the baby to the breast and in what position to keep it so that it can take the mother’s breast properly.
“I used to feed on one side of the breast for most of the time and breastfeed from the side where she slept.” A few days later I started having chest pains and fever. I had no idea what to do and what it was all about. When I went to the doctor for this problem, I was diagnosed with breast involvement. And that’s when you breastfeed on one side and the other side starts to build up.’
Dakar Shabina Arif says that if a mother is unable to breastfeed her child, it affects the health of the child as well as the health of the mother.
The milk in the mother’s breast starts to clot and sores form. Some mothers develop mastitis due to lack of proper guidance. Due to which the breast becomes swollen, which is very painful for mothers.
Dr. Shabina Arif says that with proper guidance these problems can be dealt with and this guidance needs to be given to the mother when she visits the doctor during maternity. Then they should be told how to hold the baby and how to breastfeed.
He said that if the proper method is not known, the mother gets pain after which she stops breastfeeding the child. Due to which not only the health of the child is affected but also problems arise for the mother.
Dakar Shabina says that mothers who breastfeed stay away from dangerous diseases like breast cancer and ovarian cancer. According to a research, 20 thousand mothers around the world can be protected from breast cancer by breast feeding.
Mothers gain weight during pregnancy, which is difficult to lose later. But breastfeeding can cause weight loss. Mothers who breastfeed also have less risk of diabetes.
Breast milk and misconceptions
Rabia says, ‘When you become a mother for the first time, you are also misguided a lot. As I was told that the child must get used to other milk, due to which I started giving him canned milk at night.
Dr. Mahrukh Chaudhry is a lactation expert. He says that there are many misconceptions about breastfeeding.
Like eating ice cream will hurt the baby’s throat, eating sour food will make the baby sick or mother’s early milk is not good for the baby’s health and it is wasted, all this is completely wrong. A mother’s first milk is actually the first vaccination and is the most useful.
Mahrukh says that women used to come to them who said that their milk was bitter. And for that they have tried putting ants in milk and they died. “It’s all because of ignorance.”
Dr. Mahrukh says, “There is also a misconception that a mother is breastfeeding and if she becomes pregnant again, she should not breastfeed.” It is not like that, the mother can still breastfeed her.
How important is the support of family and society?
According to the Pakistan National Nutrition Survey, only 48% of mothers in Pakistan breastfeed their children. The rates are the same for both cities and villages. In addition, 15 percent forcefully, 17 percent partially, while 20 percent mothers do not breastfeed at all.
Quratul Ain says that it is important for a mother to support her not only her family but also the society.
For example, if we go out and have to breastfeed, it becomes difficult, she says. However, she says, I solved it by going to the shopping mall’s fitting room and feeding her or sitting inside the car and breast feeding her.
Dr. Shabina Arif says that if we want to see the mother and the child healthy, then we have to give them an environment in which they are guided as well as supported so that they can breastfeed the child.
Dr. Mahrukh blames the society more than the mother for not giving the mother the support system she needs.
Working mothers also need guidance on how to pump their milk and keep it at home for the baby, says Dr Mahrukh.