Neha Dhupia & Sameera Reddy Smash Breastfeeding Taboos, Speak Of Milk Production & New Dads

Breastfeeding is the most normal and natural thing in the world and yet society considers it a taboo. The stigma associated with breastfeeding makes people slut-shame new mothers and asks them to “cover-up”. Fortunately, the world is slowly but steadily becoming more accepting and supportive of lactating women and the examples are everywhere to see.

The ASI announced that the Taj Mahal would have a breastfeeding room soon. Also, a swimsuit model decided to walk the ramp while feeding her baby. Furthermore, World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from August 1 to August 7 to normalise it.

Actress Neha Dhupia and mom to 8-month-old daughter Mehr did her bit to spread awareness by launching an initiative called #FreedomToFeed. She said that it was nothing to be conscious or apologetic about in this inspiring video.

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Let’s start a conversation… as mothers we need #freedomtofeed … #internationalbreastfeedingweek … @freedomtofeed #ItsNotAnAd 📸 @ashishjparmar @mananinmotion

A post shared by Neha Dhupia (@nehadhupia) on Aug 1, 2019 at 9:25pm PDT

She recalled an instance when she was open about feeding her daughter and encouraged other women to do the same.

“I remember I was travelling with her once all by myself and I was on a flight and I knew that she needs a feed because I could hear her cry and as a mother, you know what your baby wants. I remember standing up in the plane and telling everyone in the cabin ‘listen, I am gonna be using the washroom for about 15 minutes and if anybody would like to use it before me’. Everyone knew that I was taking my daughter in and what was actually going on.”

Actress Sameera Reddy and mommy to daughter Nyra called upon fathers to understand and support their wives through this new phase. She also threw light on the issue of low milk production through her Instagram post.

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New dads & loved ones listen up! Its World Breast feeding week and this post is for you to know that you can be the biggest support and encouragement to a new mom! A mother may be depressed, lacking in confidence, worried, or stressed and it affects breastfeeding. These factors do not directly affect her milk production, but can interfere with the way in which she responds to her baby. This can result in the baby taking less milk, and failing to stimulate milk production. So be there for her . ❤️ Understanding the pressure on her physically and emotionally is the best thing you can do. Nothing like feeling loved at such an overwhelming time. 🙌🏻 . I would also like to give a shoutout to moms who have struggled with low milk production . This could happen due to a pathological reason including endocrine problems or a host of other factors .A few mothers have a physiological low breast-milk production, for no apparent reason, and production does not increase when the breastfeeding technique and pattern improve. There is no reason to shame them or make them feel any pressure in not being able to BF. we need to support all mothers and show love and respect 🍼. . #worldbreastfeedingweek2019 . @WABA_global @who @unicefindia

A post shared by Sameera Reddy (@reddysameera) on Aug 2, 2019 at 12:46am PDT

She wrote,

“New dads & loved ones listen up! A mother may be depressed, lacking in confidence, worried, or stressed and it affects breastfeeding. These factors do not directly affect her milk production but can interfere with the way in which she responds to her baby. This can result in the baby taking less milk, and failing to stimulate milk production. So be there for her.”

So, if you see a mom feeding her baby, ask her if she needs anything and help her out instead of shaming her for something that’s completely normal.