BREASTFEEDING CREATES THE BEST BOND BETWEEN A MOTHER AND CHILD

(India)

I am an Indian born in India brought up in a country other than my motherland but was married in India. I had endless joy when I found out I was pregnant and would sit for days ahead of my delivery planning that I would give the best care to my child and that I would start with breastfeeding. My pregnancy was a difficult one but I was not prepared for the fact that I would have a C-section delivery. On the day that I was to give birth my water bag had broke in the early hours of the morning, but I didn't have labor pains. I was taken to the Nursing Home where I was to give birth but was made to wait the whole day just in case the pains come but I guess that was a waste as in the evening I was prepared for a C-section delivery.I was wheeled into the OR and was put on an IV drip. What they put in the drip i do not know but i started chatting with the doctors present with all sorts of nonsense like how big the IV needle was and didn't they have better facilities for deliveries. the next thing I knew, they were asking me to count backwards from 100. I remember reaching 96 and then blank as I was out like a bolt. When the anesthesia wore off, about an hour later, I was yelling away with the pain and bringing the hospital down with my shouting. I was told of this incident the following day but this I have no memory of. I came to a few hours later and the first thing I asked was, is it a boy or a girl and was told that I was blessed with a baby girl who looked like a doll as she was born just 2.5 kilos and was so tiny. Then the anesthesia started wearing off and i was coming more into my senses I started feeling the pains and asked the doctor to give me some pain killers but was told I that they could not give me any pain killer as I had to feed the baby. In spite of the pain i had, I was so happy as I truly felt that I was now a Mother India being orthodox I was never told or educated by my relatives or even my mother-in-law as to what I should expect during pregnancy and childbirth. All I knew was what I read in magazines ad some books.Even the media and TV ads showed breastfeeding as a perfectly easy thing to do, making it look so simple. All you had to do was bring the baby near the breast to suckle, making it look like a lovely bond between the mother and child. Can you imagine the shock I was in for. The first time I feed my baby was laying down in the hospital bed unable to move due to the pain and the awkwardness as I was unable to sit with the stitches that I just had a few hours ago, but all this was worth it when my child first tentatively suckled on my breast. It felt like I was in Heaven, having my flesh and blood in my arms suckling on my breast and creating this lovely bond between us at that very instance. A bond that will last a life time. A feeling of awe came over me because it dawned on me I was responsible for bringing this tiny bundle of joy into the world with God's grace of course. The next few day at the hospital were eye openers, as what I was expecting and what I got were two different things. I had gotten used to the idea of the baby being breast fed but I developed sensitivity to the suckling which caused pain. Lucky for me this was a temporary thing and happens to a lot of first time mothers. I was given a topical cream which eased the pain. After that there was no looking back. I would look forward to each feed time as "us" time for both my daughter and me and my husband whenever he would be around for the feed. My daughter grew up to be a totally breast fed baby till the age of two years. Yes I did feed her for two years and i was still hesitant to give it up as by now I had read a lot of books on the benefits of breastfeeding. First of all it was instantly available an time of the day or night and no preparations were required. Then it was the right temperature for the baby so there was no fear of giving a too warm or cold feed. There was no reaction as it was the most natural thing formulated just for your baby. Unlike formula feeds to which some babies cannot adopt. Breast milk also builds up the immune system of the child specially the first milk expressed which has a lot of antibodies needed by the child. Last but not the least it strengthened the bond between mother and child. I did have some challenges I had to face but I guess they were minor ones in comparisons to the benefits. It used to be difficult going out for more than 3-4 hours and the breast would fill up and sometimes overflow..but that was an indication that it was time for a feed. Feeding in public was another problem too in the 80's because they didn't have rooms for feeding unlike today. Traveling around India by train posed an even bigger problem, how do I feed the child in public? Our society was very orthodox in the South, but that didn't deter me from doing what I had to do and that was give my child her feed on time the way she would be given at home. I would do it under a blanket with no one looking on and my back to my traveling companions. It would feel funny but I was willing to do anything for my baby. In fact weaning her away from the breast was a bit difficult but using tried and tested remedies of my mother-in-law did the trick A funny incident that I can not forget was when I was out on a errand one day and my daughter was about 15 months old. She wanted to be fed and I was not around so she went up to my mother-in-law and told her, pointing to her breasts " duda" meaning she wanted milk and proceeded to start removing her sari and reach for her breast,my mother-in-law was so taken aback that she didn't know what to do. Luckily, I arrived in time and my daughter left her and came running to me for her feed. That taught me to plan my outings after giving her a feed and putting her to sleep. I guess I am a lucky mother as I didn't have to go out to work. I know of a lot of breastfeeding mothers who work.They would have a breast pump with them as they go to work express their milk every few hours and put it in feeding bottles and keep it refrigerated for their child's feed the next day. It may be still breast milk but they had to be careful as the milk was not to be kept after a certain period. My experiences as a breast feeding mother was shared with my sister when she had her kids and that helped her a lot avoiding problems I encountered. If I was given a choice to breastfeed or bottle feed in today's day and age, without blinking an eyelid I would still go for breastfeeding. The younger generation is still learning today the benefits of breastfeeding what our mothers and grandmothers knew years back. Breast milk is the best milk for your child and you Thank you for the opportunity of sharing my experiences as a first time mother who breastfed her child.