This is the story of Sonam, a 26-year-old Dalit woman and mother of two children. When Sonam was pregnant with her first child, she suffered from morning sickness the entire pregnancy. She lost her appetite, and grew anaemic. Despite a normal delivery, she could not exclusively breastfeed her baby, because of anaemia. She depended on formula milk to feed her child.

Sonam's second pregnancy was perhaps even worse. She was so weak at the time of her delivery, that her haemoglobin levels had fallen to just six points. Due to her weakness, she had to go in for a premature delivery at seven months. Sonam was given four units of blood after her delivery due to her low haemoglobin levels. She was not allowed to breastfeed her baby in the first hour after birth, in fact she was not allowed to feed her child for a fortnight after.

Anaemia is a commonplace condition among women in Chitrakoot; more than 50 percent are weak. Families and societies continue to pay little attention to the needs, health, and diet of pregnant women, rather they are always around to pass a comment or two, laced with judgement, on women who are unable to exclusively breastfeed.

"A five-foot grown woman cannot produce enough milk to feed a baby!"

"Is this even a woman, who does not want to breastfeed because she might grow weak?"

#breastfeedingawareness
#womenatwork
#anemia
#moms