Mothers On The Go

Born, bought up and educated in India, breastfeeding is not considered as a choice that a young new mother can exercise.

It is “The” right thing to do and it is considered all right to sneak a small meal to the toddler at public places like movie halls, restaurants, parties and shopping malls. Men are accustomed to look the other way rather than stare down at a feeding mother. Attention is frowned upon and other women care less before snubbing a wrong look at the mother and child.

Mom breastfeeding baby

I was extremely anxious the moment my first born was bought to me for her first feed. i looked at the nurse with a huge quizzical look and she assured me before handing the frail, pale, 7 pounder.

Every time the infant cried in the large maternity room that I was in, my mum and I would look around to see if there were mice sneaking around, only to realize that new born infants sound like that. The first feed to my daughter was seriously my proudest moment! I was a full fledged mother feeding real milk to a real child and not just a plastic doll when I was around 8 years.

I dont remember the young one suckling, but the yellow colostrum was proof enough that  I was a good mother capable of giving wholesome food to the kid. My mother kept her barrage of advises on as i fed the hungry baby “Mind the nose of  the baby”, “Feed both sides turn by turn“, “Sit and feed or else you could suffocate the baby by your side“, “Wash before you feed“, “Eat well and no carbs and gassy food or else the infant will develop colic“.

Mothers really, even the Gods couldn’t escape them!

I took up breastfeeding as the only food for the baby and not as a choice. My mother did it, so did my grandmother, and her mother and her mother. So the lineage weighed heavy and i dared not break the illustrious tradition of feeding the child mothers manna!

I breast fed my daughter for 18 months and supplemented with home made food only after the mandatory 6 month barrier had passed. I am a good mother, it is only now that i have lost the position due to my choice for Pizzas and Colas that I allow the children to have. Bur i swear by the goodness of breast feeding.

I lactated well, kept fit, my skin glowed, I never worried about bottle sterilization, my husband kept his distance from me as he saw me as a cow  with a 24 hour milk supply, enough to unromanticize him. Not that I really minded, coz keeping awake to a colicky, wailing and hungry baby had already kicked the sexiness out of my solar system and i never thought i would ever encounter that satellite again.

It is 6 years now and when I look at my precious princess, I realize the goodness of breast feeding. She is smarter, much more valiant to any new strain of flu or fever, that other less breast fed or more formula fed babies actually are.  I don’t mind being the cow as my husband cheekily used to call me, I breast fed and almost everywhere that my children demanded without shame or hesitation.

So shoot me and I will squirt you!