Breast feeding builds a strong bond between mother and child, breast milk is incomparable to animal milk and the advantages are numerous. However, in rural Rwanda, there are a few peculiar mothers who would rather risk milking their cows than feed their baby with breast milk. These women are equipped with an arsenal of excuses, when it comes to breastfeeding. While two years is the recommendable age for weaning, unfortunate babies cease to feed on a mom’s breast at three months, it is even worse for those babies who have never suckled on a mother’s breast.
Breast feeding builds a strong bond between mother and child, breast milk is incomparable to animal milk and the advantages are numerous. However, in rural Rwanda, there are a few peculiar mothers who would rather risk milking their cows than feed their baby with breast milk.
These women are equipped with an arsenal of excuses, when it comes to breastfeeding. While two years is the recommendable age for weaning, unfortunate babies cease to feed on a mom’s breast at three months, it is even worse for those babies who have never suckled on a mother’s breast.
As activists aim at getting more women to breastfeed, the barriers below need to be overcome:
Medical problems.
Rare, but it happens. It’s medically confirmed that some women get pre or after birth complications that hinder breastfeeding. According to an online research, mainly first time mothers get soar painful erect breasts, these don’t only hinder breastfeeding, they hate the whole breast feeding concept.
Poor advice/knowledge base.
We all know people who really wanted to breastfeed but got derailed by terrible advice from friends or even medical professionals.
Myths like; ‘breasts will enlarge and sag the more a baby circles on them’ or, ‘aging and weight gain’ are among several excuses mother avoid breastfeeding.
No support at home.
First time mothers, need attention and support from home. Breastfeeding is a new field that they only knew about theoretically. Of course they won’t just dive into the whole thing of babies biting their nipple yet there are options.
Unsupportive work environments.
Many women are torn between their careers and raising a family yet some work environments do not take family as priority. For instance, some countries give a very short maternity break and less time for mothers to breast feed.
Many women do not have the energy to fight the battle; they end up exploring other options to breast feeding.
Misinformation.
Are there still women who really think that formula is just as good? With the availed provisions from modernity, some women either ignore or opt for easier solutions, when it comes to feeding their babies.
They trust new powdered milk brands on the market than their own breast milk.
They just don’t care.
With high white collar jobs, some women do not give a damn at all about breastfeeding. In fact, they liken breastfeeding to slavery. For example, some women blame breast pumping for making them feel like cows.
The male factor.
Not all women are in position to take care of baby and hubby at the same time. Husbands get jealous when a wife’s attention turns to the baby.
The Stir, an online journal states that, "men feel ownership of wives’ breasts, hence doing their best to get their women to hate breastfeeding. Men think breastfeeding for a long period empowers women. Women are believed to become too feminist, yet men hate it,” states the journal.
Even though breastfeeding remains the best way to bond mother and child yet hiccups are inevitable.