Breastfeeding & Expressing Milk – by Dr. Rahul Nagpal, Fortis Hospital.

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Greetings!! To continue our efforts to promote Breastfeeding, we share a note by Dr. Rahul Nagpal, Director and Head of Pediatrics, Fortis Hospital, who speaks about the Breastfeeding and Expressing milk with Pumps

Breastfeeding and the Role of Breast Pumps If every child was breast fed within an hour of birth, given only breast milk for their first six months of life, and continued breastfeeding up to the age of two years, about 800,000 child lives would be saved every year... World Health Organisation. Breast milk is the equivalent of a magic bullet for a developing baby's brain and body." - John Medina Following World War II, in the west, many rich families and aspirational middle-class mothers adopted formula feeding. During this time, breastfeeding was considered old-fashioned or only for poor people. Infant formula was seen as a scientific advancement and a sign of progress. This misguided view did not last long. Breastfeeding is back in the West. Public health education about the benefits of breastfeeding has been widely promoted and breastfeeding is now acceptable for all women in most western countries. In USA the Obama Care hassled to a boom in demand for breast pumps. Tucked within the Affordable Care Act is a provision requiring insurance companies to cover breast pumps and visits to lactation consultants at no cost to the patient. WHY BREAST PUMPS While we speak a lot about the advantages of breast milk and how convenient it is for mothers to feed their babies this wonder food, we often tend to forget that even breastfeeding has its limitations. Think about working mums, or mums who need to strike a balance between home and other outdoor chores while taking care of a newborn. During such situations, breastfeeding can often become tiring and unmanageable, especially sans the privacy and comfort of your home. Given the societal outlook, breastfeeding in public is often considered a taboo in most Indian sects. There are no Mothers Rooms in public places. But today's modern urban mums have a choice - breast pumps. For mothers who need to be away from their babies, the breast pump is a boon. Though new-age mums may have heard of the pump, there are a lot of reservations attached to it, especially in terms of its usage and effectiveness. A breast pump helps a nursing mother to pump and store breast milk in order to allow the baby to enjoy the benefits of breastfeeding even when the mother is not around. This helps working mothers ensure that their babies get their due share of breastfeeding despite the distance. Even stay at home mothers can use a pump to store milk and ask an attendant to give a feed when needed while catching up on some me-time. A breast pump also comes in handy if the baby can't latch well (where the child is unable to suckle or hold on to the nipples of its mother) but the mother is lactating enough to produce good quality of milk. Pumping out sufficient amount of milk can also help feed premature babies .Continuous pumping can also save a new mother from the clutches of engorgement and the heaviness of breasts. REMEMBER Breast milk is nature's health plan. The views expressed here are solely those of the author and reproduced here with his consent.

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