During the nine months of my pregnancy, all I was waiting for the day that I could hold my baby in my arms. There is no better feeling in the world for a mother than the first time you feed your baby. All I wished for was to have a healthy baby whom I could hold in my arms and feed.

But my wish was not respected by the hospital where I delivered my baby.

When my baby was born, he was kept in the NICU for observing his sugar levels. During the time he spent in the NICU, he was fed formula milk. I was not informed of this and my consent was not taken by the hospital.

If I knew that my baby was being given formula milk, I would have never allowed for that to happen. There was a milk bank in the hospital and my baby could have been fed human milk during the early stages of his life.

I later realized that what happened to me is a very rampant practice across the country. Especially when a mother is recovering after a C-section, or when a baby is in the NICU, many hospitals just go ahead and feed the baby formula milk, without informing the mother.

Our government has spent crores of rupees in advertising about the importance of breastfeeding. Many of you may have heard radio and TV ads about the thick yellow milk that a lactating mother produces is crucial for the baby’s long term health.

But the hospitals, especially the private ones, make tonnes of money because they get discounted formula milk dabbas from the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture them.

The moment the baby is born, they open a new dabba and start feeding the baby. That dabba is then given to the new mothers to take home with them and the cost is added to the bill. And all of this is done without the consent of the unsuspecting mother who is tired after delivering the baby.I know quite a few mothers who’ve had a tough time switching from formula to breast milk.

That’s why I want the government to tell all the hospitals to get prior consent of the mother before feeding a newborn formula milk. The hospitals ask for the patient’s consent for every small thing. They make you sign so many documents before and after the delivery.

And yet the doctors chose to give my baby formula over human milk. Without my consent! Why?

Luckily, my baby was in the NICU only for a day. Had he been there for a longer time, I cannot even imagine how hard it would have been for me to wean him off formula.

Similar stories come up all time especially when it is a Cesarean birth. It is critical for the maternity hospitals to make some structural changes in the approach to breastfeeding.  And thus turn to be "Breastfeeding Friendly".

Join us and sign this petition to make it mandatory for doctors to educate new parents about the benefits of breastfeeding and breastmilk and ask for their consent if at all, formula needs to be given to their baby. 

Join us and sign this petition to the Ministry of Health and FW, Government of India, to issue an advisory to all maternity hospitals (both public and private) to be "Breastfeeding Friendly" by implementing all the steps of the MAA programme/WHO-UNICEF's 10 Steps to successful breastfeeding. 

Breast is not just the best, but also the biological norm!

#MyBabyMyDecision

#BreastfeedingFriendlyHospitals