When breastfeeding was no challenge: How a trap shooter and IT professional fed their babies in the middle of a work day

Indian Express

3 days ago

Thirty-two-year-old Katha Kapur Bhandari, a trapshooter with the national squad, has been travelling with her daughter to all her competitions ever since she was born four years ago, having breast-fed her through the first year. Software developer Parul Malhotra had her first child, a daughter, at 37, and fed her whenever she needed, even during a month-long vacation to Bali, with her breast cover slung over her shirt. Now she has all the information on feeding rooms at whatever office she flies to for work. Yet both women were once told that given their busy schedules, they wouldn't have enough milk for breastfeeding and that they should top up with formula feeds.
'Breastfeeding is a science and if you have the right lactation counselling, shed the guilt and stress of whether you are doing the right thing as a mother, you can feed your new-born as normally as your grandmother did,' says Bhandari. Malhotra, who had a C-section delivery, says she continued to directly feed her baby even when she cried. 'The nurses told me she was hungry. Nobody had told me then that there were a thousand reasons why a baby cries. Thanks to my lactation expert, I stopped judging my milk supply and kept at it. For seven months, my girl's hydration, too, was with breast milk. She would sip water only when she started having solid foods,' she says.
Both of them are challenging the myth that young working women cannot produce enough milk or feed their babies. That is determined by how well the baby is latched on to the mother's breast, how quickly the baby is fed (within the first hour of birth is the best) the frequency of feeds and the amount the baby is having. Fact is milk production is directly related to the mother's psychological profile and well-being. 'Oxytocin is a happy hormone, which plays a crucial role in lactation by triggering milk production, calming the mother's anxiety which can block milk supply and helping her bond with the child. There should be no gaps in feeding within the first three days of delivery. Any gap is like a signal blocker to the mother's brain that she doesn't need to produce milk. Most women can then get into the rhythm easily. Except rarities like an infection, a severe hormonal disruption, breast surgery or severe malnutrition, most young women are capable of producing and sustaining milk supplies,' says Dr Anita Sharma, lactation expert at Fortis Le Femme, New Delhi.
WHY LACTATION EDUCATION IS A MUST
Dr Sahana KP, senior consultant, gynaecology, Apollo Hospitals, Bengaluru, believes that the motivation to breastfeed must begin with pregnancy itself. She insists that not only the father but family members sit in on counselling sessions to help the mother, who may lose perspective given her vulnerability to post-partum depression.
'Most people know very little about breastfeeding. The first two to three days, the mother secretes only colostrum, a liquid which is nutrient dense, full of antibodies, antioxidants, enzymes and beneficial bacteria. It sets up the baby's immune system. Its secretion is limited, 30 to 50 ml, after which the mother's diet and hydration gradually amps it up as the breast milk we know. And since a baby needs milk every two hours, each feed has to be just 30 to 90 ml, which is enough for the baby's tiny stomach. Yet people judge the mother's milking capacity in the first few days and send her on a guilt trip, which is what obstructs whatever milk she could have produced,' she says.
In the first two weeks, the baby requires 300 to 500 ml milk per day, which can go up to 1,000 ml per day at the end of six weeks. 'All you need for stimulating milk hormones is for the mother to latch on to the baby properly, have encouraging people around her and positive vibes. That's it. Once the mother becomes confident, she can sustain milk production for 12 to 14 months, even after the infant has started on solid food. Mothers can freeze their milk as reserve, thaw it to room temperature and bottle-feed the child with it as required. Breast milk should never be heated or refrozen,' says Dr Sahana. She advises milk-boosting supplements only rarely.
DEALING WITH ANXIETY
Dr Sharma has seen mothers with extreme anxiety, especially those who may have their babies in NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit) because they are pre-term or have birth complications like jaundice and edema. 'Such stress levels automatically impact milk production. As lactation counsellors, we help them understand triggers, calm them down and help them pump milk so that their babies can be fed normally later,' she says.
In fact, Dr Sharma puts mothers through a recreational activity, taking them out from the cycle of feeding and fretting over the baby. 'I actually ask them to have a special dinner or a foot spa,' she adds. She even trains the father or caregiver in chest feeding, whereby they can position the baby and feed the mother's expressed milk from a bottle.
Dr Sharma takes new mothers through the drill of watching the baby's urine and stool output as well as the weight — an infant loses about ten per cent of body weight in the first two weeks — to see if their newborn is getting enough milk or not. 'If these are within parameters, she is making just about enough milk. Also prolactin, another milk-making hormone, works best in the morning. So a new mother needs to sleep in late, having been mostly awake at night. Sleep deprivation affects milk quality,' she says.
WHY FORMULA FEEDS SHOULD BE THE LAST OPTION
Formula milk should be brought in only when the mother cannot breastfeed because of duct infection or medical reasons. 'Many women think it is convenient but it is heavier than breast milk, causing bloating, colic pain and weight gain in the child. As for the mother, given the satiety of formula milk, her brain cannot understand how much milk it needs to make or not,' says Dr Sharma.
LESSONS FROM AN IT PROFESSIONAL AND SPORTSWOMAN
Malhotra recalls how her baby cried incessantly after birth. 'Since I had a C-section, the nurse told me to rest as she topped up the feed with formula. I didn't know that the gap would affect my supply or that I should have fed her in the first hour. Dr Sharma led me through latching and my supply got regulated within 60 days. Besides, my body can now sense when she will need a feed and makes milk accordingly. I pump once in the night or early morning, so that we can have an emergency reserve,' she says. Malhotra hasn't yet given formula feed to her seven-month-old and looks at breastfeeding as a natural body process like menstruation.
Bhandari was initially given to anxiety because her child was born in the middle of the pandemic. 'I was so stressed back then that I couldn't pump milk at all. So from the very beginning I fed her directly. I bought a weighing machine to track her progress. So I charted her weight rather than looking at whether I was producing enough milk. Unlike other women, I even had periods soon after the first month, when the supply goes down automatically. But I focussed on my diet and exercise to keep my hormones in balance,' she recalls.
Bhandari took great pains to ensure her daughter always fed on her milk. 'I would use a breast pump during training, in my car or in the changing room at the shooting range. I would take short haul flights, keep the expressed milk in the aircraft's refrigeration unit and then thaw it for a feed. The best part is my child got used to my schedule and never demanded feed in the middle of a competition. Now no competition or win is complete without her,' she says. All young mothers need are support and safe feeding spaces, not shame.