By Irene Nabusoba

SHE looks away, as if oblivious of the baby’s hungry cry. After a while, an elderly lady says: “Give the baby the breast.” But instead of heeding  the motherly command, she rushes for a bottle of formula milk in her baby bag. The toddler screams louder, defiantly demanding her God-given right.

The mother fumbles with the buttons on her blouse, aware of the peering eyes, and makes an attempt at a discreet feed. The older woman says: “No mother should be ashamed of breastfeeding. Be proud. This is our natural call. Many women would wish to share your experience but they can’t give birth.

“I also used to imagine how I would be able to breastfeed in public,” says Mabel, a mother of four. “After the birth of my first baby, it came naturally. I would just pull my boob and feed, irrespective of who was looking. My husband was uncomfortable and would ask me to carry bottled milk, but I stood my ground and he came around,” she says.

Melody, a 29-year-old mother of two, says she feels funny every time her two-year old baby breaks away to play, leaving her breast to whoever cares to stare.

Catherine Ruhweza, the CEO of the Mama Tendo Foundation, says despite breastfeeding being a natural thing, many mothers face a lot of challenges, particularly social pressure.

“Problems start with how soon the baby start to breastfeed, how often, where to breastfeed and when to wean,” Ruhweza says. “But there is the increasing concern of whether to or not to breastfeed in public,” she notes.
“Some mothers think breastfeeding in public is shameful and indecent.

This is especially common among young career mothers, actors, musicians, models, athletes...ones generally known to be ‘celebs.’”
Global surveys show that while many working mothers find themselves doing replacement feeding because they spend lots of time at their workplace, today’s young mothers are running for the bottle because they think breastfeeding in public is shameful.
“Breastfeeding takes commitment.

Some mothers find the bottle convenient. Others cannot genuinely cope with breastfeeding because of work stress. The bottle becomes handy,” Ruhweza says. “However, opting to give a baby formula milk so that they become chubby or because breastfeeding is not stylish, should be discouraged.

Many breastfeeding difficulties can be resolved with proper hospital procedures, properly trained midwives, doctors and hospital staff, plus support from family and friends,” she says.

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to find nursing mothers receiving negative comments from their relatives, friends, or even complete strangers. They hear comments like, ‘that big kid is still breastfeeding?’, ‘didn’t you just feed her an hour ago?’ or ‘he’s not gaining enough, you better supplement with formula’.

If hearing such comments can push grown babies to resent breastfeeding in public, what of the mothers themselves?” Ruhweza asks.

Francesca Biller-Safran, a US-based nutritionist in an article ‘What’s a mother to do: Breastfeeding, healthy not political’, says there is nothing wrong or indecent with exposing breasts even in public while nursing.

“That is what breasts are intended for: giving food to babies. In the US, we have laws and one is liable to be sued for discrimination against a mother on these grounds,” says the mother of two. “Breastfeeding is how our ancestors were nurtured...yet today we are ashamed of the breast.”

“The practice is viewed as sexual and sensual because breastfeeding involves the breast which our western culture is obsessed with in an unhealthy way and to an unhealthy degree,” she says.

She urges governments and employers in particular to create friendly environments to support mothers to breastfeed in public, citing 24-hour pre and postnatal lactation counselling, access to high-quality breast pumping equipment, educational materials, onsite breastfeeding classes, as the many tools to support breastfeeding mothers in the workplace.

Juliet Namakoye, a midwife, hails the idea, saying support helps prevent challenges that come with discreet nursing.

“Some mothers cover up the breast and especially nipple while breastfeeding in public, using baby blankets, shawls or otherwise. It is not good.

You need to relax to allow let down of milk and watch your baby. Besides, you end up latching the baby onto the breast wrongly because of the effort and end up underfeeding,” Namakoye says.
She argues that the need for discreet nursing stems from the idea that seeing exposed breasts supposedly arouses sexual feelings.

“Indeed it does so in some men, but only because of the way they have been raised and influenced but in many other cultures, no one thinks twice about a nursing mother and there is no need for covering up while nursing,” she says.

Namakoye says the older baby might refuse to nurse under a blanket. “It is also natural for the baby to take some time to latch onto the breast, and it is common for older babies to sometimes let go of the nipple to see what’s going on. Relax. Don’t be afraid if your nipple shows for a little while, it is part of the normal breastfeeding experience and people should understand that,” she says.

As far as a man staring at the partially bare breast, she says: “Some men might get aroused, but others are curious. They do not necessarily want to look at you with lust.”
An internet site, www.bottle-feeding culture@Childfun.com says covering up makes breastfeeding ‘something forbidden’, which produces feelings of curiosity.

“Our society is desperately in need of mothers nursing their babies in public openly. We also need books and TV programmes featuring breastfeeding mothers.
“If a girl grows up thinking that breastfeeding is the normal way to feed a baby, she will be much more likely to try it, and knowing that a lot of women can do it with no difficulty, she’ll have more confidence in herself as a nursing mother,” it says.

UNICEF, together with its partners, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action and the World Health Organisation, had all the right reasons to introduce the ‘breastfeeding week’ in 1992, to advocate for the nutritional practice on a large scale.

Celebrated in over 140 countries worldwide annually, this year’s theme for the August 1-7 Event is “Breastfeeding: A Life Saving Response in Emergencies: Is Uganda Ready?”

“The theme captures the benefits of breastfeeding as well as recognising the challenges breastfeeding mothers face,” says Dr. Jessicca Nsungwa, the principal medical officer in charge of integrated management of childhood diseases.

“We recognise that mothers need increased professional and informal support to breastfeed,” Nsungwa says. “Especially young and working mothers faced with social and career challenges.”