Fighting Barriers: Breastfeeding Journey
If you ask me, I will say Meena Guptha has her heart in place, standing strong and fighting barriers in life! When we asked her to describe herself, she said, “A fun-loving introvert with zero sense of humour. I love sleeping, hanging out with my friends and spending quality time with my son.” A commerce graduate and having been trapped in the corporate world for 15 years, Meena Guptha dreams of owning a business some day. She is currently on a mission to strike off items of her to-do list before turning 40. 1. Meena, you seemed to have had a difficult time conceiving. Can you please tell us how Mayank entered your lives? Difficult is probably an understatement. Both my husband and I are fond of children and post a year of our marriage, we began to try for a baby. We did try for a while with no results till we finally decided to seek medical help. As per the doctor’s advice, we changed our lifestyle – eat healthy, get ample rest, remain as stress free as possible – unfortunately, luck wasn’t kind on us yet. We both had to undergo a series of tests. Thankfully, they were all positive. Then began the numerous temple visits and prayers – we were at a point that we would do anything that would help us get a baby. I tortured myself with treatments that ranged from Ayurvedic to Homeopathic to 5 IUIs and 1 IVF. We were even blessed with a baby through IVF. But unfortunately, we lost it at 3 months due to improper growth. By then, I gave up. Mentally and physically, I was broken. I stopped all treatments and offering prayers (and temple visits). Maybe we weren’t meant to have a baby. I believed so and thought I should accept it and move on. Of course, society wasn’t being easy on us and although my husband was supportive, he did get influenced at times to “go through more treatments”. A few months later, when we least expected, there were two lines on the pregnancy kit. I was ecstatic but held on to my excitement as the previous experience left a bad taste. I could breathe a sigh of relief only when I finally held Mayank in my arms 9 months later. 2. The journey was definitely painful and I would be lying if I say I can imagine what you must have gone through. How did your breastfeeding journey begin post-delivery? I did not read up during my pregnancy. My work dint leave me with enough time for any sort of leisure. Also, I am not a book person. Since it was a delicate pregnancy and I had Gestational Diabetes (GD), the doctor suggested C-section and we went ahead with it without much contemplation. Post-delivery, they immediately showed Mayank to me and my husband (who had come in to cut the cord). I was then stitched up, cleaned and shifted to the recovery room while they took Mayank to meet the family members waiting outside. This delayed skin to skin and they brought him to me an hour later. Thankfully, he latched on like a pro and thus began a beautiful journey. 3. You did have a good start in spite of the unexpected and unnecessary delay. So, was it a smooth run thereafter? The hospital staff was supportive with breastfeeding and they used to come and help me every 2 hours. However, I was not confident that I was doing it right. The severe pain from the stitches was making the experience bitter as I was hardly able to move around. To top it off, the visitors kept passing comments on how sensitive I was to pain. Like, really!! We did have a few sessions with the Lactation Consultant (LC) but it still did not give me the confidence. She asked me to follow the football hold until the pain subsided. Surprisingly, they weren’t in favour of nursing while lying down. The suffering was immense to sit for long hours for cluster feeds. I was in two minds to try the lying down position as my sister (who had delivered 5 months earlier) had done so. But a strict no from my LC made it tough. 4. It is unfortunate how the struggles just did not seem to end. Did you have Post-Partum Depression (PPD)? I did suffer from mild PPD. My husband wasn’t around and my mother was single-handedly managing things. Mayank was a night owl; the long hours at night with even less sleep during the day began to take a toll on me. He used to cry a lot and it used to drive me mad as I could not figure out why. As a first time mother, I fell prey to a lot of myths which just added to my misery. I have long hair and the pressure to dry it up before feeding the baby (because he would fall sick!) drove me mad. During his first vaccination, the paediatrician asked me not to cluster feed, as it would become a ‘habit’! I still regret believing and following this because he used to cry badly and I still wouldn’t feed him because the doctor said so; and stuck to nursing only every 2 hours. I had to even go through food restrictions as it would affect the baby. All of this went on for 3 months and I thought I couldn’t go on. 5. I am so sorry for the misinformation and myths you were subjected to. What happened after 3 months? At around 3 months there was a lot of pressure to start solids. It dint feel or sound right. I took to the internet to find out more and stumbled upon a wonderful group – Breastfeeding Support for Indian Mothers (BSIM) on Facebook. I joined, went through their files and posts and felt more confident about my decision to continue exclusive breastfeeding. It helped that my husband was on-board with this decision.
