EXPRESSING LOVE AS ONLY A MOTHER CAN
#ProjectMoM campaign aims to help South Africans understand the need for mothers’ milk
The topic of breastfeeding gets most people hot under the collar — even mothers themselves. Being able to feed in public places has been a difficulty women have faced for years. During world breastfeeding awareness week (which ended on August 7), one company launched a campaign to help SA understand the need for Mother’s Own Milk. That campaign is #ProjectMoM, and is spearheaded by thought leaders in breastfeeding and expression, Breastpumps & Beyond. MoM is an acronym which stands for Mother’s Own Milk. Michelle Pitt, co-founder of the movement, shares her motivation behind the project. As a mom herself, she understands the struggles breastfeeding mothers go through on a daily basis, but says there is a lot more to this campaign than breastfeeding support.
“This isn’t a breastfeeding normalising campaign only. This is very different where we are explaining how breastfeeding and expressing can make a huge difference in moms’ lives,” she says.
While trying to improve support for moms, the campaign is also aimed at showing moms who either can’t, or don’t want to breastfeed, how they can still feed their children their own milk through expressing. Generally, there are three main categories in which moms will need to express: when their baby is too little to breastfeed naturally, if the mom herself is sick with something such as thrush, and when the mom goes back to work.
According to the CIA World Fact Book as updated in January 2018, annually, South Africa has a staggering infant mortality rate average of 31 babies per 1,000 births. Though this may not seem to be many, consider this: 1.1 million babies are born in South Africa yearly. If you do the math, that leaves you with a total of 34,100 infant deaths a year. Of these children, most are born premature and/or ill.
This where the importance of mother’s own milk begins to come in on a national scale. The connection between breast milk and development has long been observed. If more people are aware of the healing and protective qualities of a mother’s milk, more people would support it. As such, infant mortality rates and overall annual medial infant costs would decrease.
#ProjectMoM wants South Africans to be familiar with the importance of breast milk. By educating people on the medical benefits of breastfeeding and expressing, awareness and support should follow. The team behind the project hopes to spread awareness and support to every South African woman who has ever felt ashamed to breastfeed or express. And many women have, some without any outside cause to.
One mom, Thilivhali Rankhodod, shares one of her most memorable experiences of how the negative breastfeeding stigma affected her. One day, during the lunch-hour rush at a mall, Rankhodod and her husband were sharing a meal when their son began to fuss. Rankhodod insisted on going to the couple’s car to feed. At this, her husband flipped. He so passionately supported her choice to breastfeed their son, that he told her to not feel any shame of feeding in public.
Mom Anne Badenhorst had first-hand experience in breastfeeding shaming — from members of her own family. She says: “I breastfed my son for two years. My sister vocally expressed her disapproval of my choice to feed for so long. Even my mother gave me odd glances as my father hid his face each time I fed, even though I always had a blanket.” But the support of her husband enabled Badenhorst to overcome any judgment passed by her immediate family.
Both of the above mothers had a premature baby, and both agreed that their choice to breastfeed helped their children develop healthier and stronger for it. Another commonality between these two women is support they received from a loved one. This helped them continue to breastfeed. And this is what #ProjectMoM aims to do.