Actor Rupali Ganguly said that she did not lactate when she had her son Rudransh Verma and the social pressure of breastfeeding her child made her feel like a ‘failed mother’. Ganguly welcomed her son in 2015, two years after she got married to businessman Ashwin K Verma in 2013.

The Anupama actor has often talked about the “miracle” that her son is, because of the difficulties she faced before conceiving him. She had thyroid issues that made it difficult for her to conceive.

Recalling the time she gave birth to her son, Ganguly told a news portal, “Once the child is born, we women put too much pressure on ourselves that only breast milk should be given, again the conditioning that you have got as a child, you follow that. People come to give you advice. I did not lactate and it is fine. I want to tell all the mothers. I totally killed and judged myself. I felt like a failed mother over it that I can’t even feed my baby. I psyched myself completely.”

The actor, popular as Monisha from the TV show Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, added that she gained weight to help with her with lactation and weighed 83kg. “After a point, even my ankles couldn’t bear my weight. When I would take my son for a stroll in a pram, people would say ‘Arre tu toh Monisha hai na, kitni moti hogayi’. Maybe someone must have said that in a very nice way, but you feel bad.”

Ganguly further said that such comments do hurt, adding that once an actor friend of hers told her she had turned into an “aunty”.