It’s World Breastfeeding Week (August 1 to 7) and actor Neha Dhupia, a mother of two, feels while the discourse on breastfeeding has gained momentum, there’s still a long way to go.

“It takes one voice to spark a conversation. The sexualization of breastfeeding needs to stop. If I am an essential food source for my child, why is it a stigma? I remember an instance when I was in a mall and was asked to use the washroom to feed my daughter. That needs to stop. So many women have spoken to me about the problems they faced while breastfeeding in public,” says Dhupia, who gave birth to her daughter, Mehr Dhupia Bedi, in 2018 and spoke about the need to “normalize” breastfeeding in public. Later, she formed an online community, Freedom to Feed, to support new mums.

The 42-year-old says the online community has “experts to help with lactation, weaning and child healthcare”. She adds that she never wanted breastfeeding her baby to jeopardise her work life: “I felt I can’t cancel my life because I am a mum who has decided to breastfeed her child. I wanted to do it all. I wanted to live in a society that’s accepting of me in whatever shape or form I was in after becoming a mum.”

She says “women in rural India are more empowered” when it comes to breastfeeding: “Whether they are working in a tea plantation, a construction site or are homemakers, they don’t shy away from breastfeeding in public.”