Mother's milk bank: a boon for working mothers in India

New Delhi, April 19, 2015: The picture was quite clear. Even the in-laws of 24-year-old Aarti Kataria wanted a proper gap between their grandchildren. But the urge of Aarti's husband for a male child, following a girl child 12 months before, is what triggered the entire problem. Though Aarti gave birth to a chubby baby boy, the heavy loss of blood and weakness initially, and her professional career later became a barrier between the child and his nutrition. Lack of time to breast feed, leading to a continuous supply of powdered milk and other supplements made the child contract severe pneumonia in the very first month of his birth. Despite knowing that the reason behind her child's condition was lack of mother's milk - which she was unable to provide due to her busy schedule - the family refused to fall back on mothers milk banks - which make available donated human milk to those in need. However, scared by the doctors' repeated warnings to keep the child away from artificial milk and supplements, the Katarias decided to give milk banks a chance and seeing the improvement in her son's health, Aarti was happy. She even endorsed the idea to her colleagues - mostly working mothers - who too were facing similar problems. According to WHO and Unicef, globally only 20 percent of working women are able to breast feed their children - a must for at least for one to one-and-a-half years after birth. The two agencies heartily endorse the idea of mothers milk banks, calling it the best food if a new born is not able to get his mother's milk.