Women body are still expected to be covered under veil and for some reason men’s disgust

rise to its peak when they see a women breastfeeding her child in public area. Knowing that
at some point every gender went through that phase and the credit for healthy body
somewhere goes to the breast feeding but still we are unable to normalize this idea.  It is a
matter of ignominy that we being a part of such a modern era fail to provide a comfort zone
to the mothers to breastfeed their child. To prevent from the glances of people around looking
at her breast as some prototype mothers are becoming dependent on formula technique or
bottle milk which is resulting in lack of nutritional value in the child’s body that would not be
beneficial in long run. Sadly, what is a source of nutrition for the baby is viewed as an object
of sexual desire and even indecent exposure by the society at large.

Breastfeeding is an inbuilt life-saving survival instinct for humans as the human milk
provides virtually all the protein, sugar, and fat your baby needs to be healthy, and it also
contains many substances that benefit your baby’s immune system, including antibodies,
immune factors, enzymes, and white blood cells which helps in combating all kinds of
disease and acts as a shield against various infections which the modern equipment cannot
provide.

India fails to provide an appropriate legal and institutional framework for ensuring private,
safe and dignified breastfeeding in public spaces in the interests of mothers and their infants
as per its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1979 as well as Article 15(3) of
the Constitution of India, 1950.

Suggestions:

It may be suggested that there should be a specific legislation passed in India like the
Friendly Airports for Mothers Act of 2017 (FAMA) in the United States. It mandates public
places to build lactation rooms that should be open to the public; be shielded from view and
free from intrusion; should include a place to sit; be accessible to and usable by individuals
with disabilities and most importantly; should not be in a bathroom. This is the minimum
infrastructure that ought to be legally guaranteed for a mother and her baby.

Spreading the awareness among both the gender is very important to generalise the idea of
breastfeeding. Education is the key. Let’s begin with instilling the concept of not looking at
breasts as an arouse of sexual desire rather an important nutritional source for a child among
men and let’s help women in breaking all the myths that surrounds them with dos and don’ts.

Let’s make this earth a beautiful place both for women and our new born future.