Neha Dhupia talks #Freedomtofeed

The actress chats with City Times about her important initiative to start a conversation around breastfeeding

enid@khaleejtimes.com

NEHA DHUPIA recently launched an inspiring initiative that not only channels her experiences and emotions as a new mother but also starts a powerful conversation on breastfeeding that is long overdue. The Bollywood actress and talk show host marked International Breastfeeding Week, which concluded on August 7, with the #Freedomtofeed initiative by means of a powerful video that she posted on her Instagram account.

City Times caught up with Neha, who is married to actor Angad Bedi, and gave birth to their daughter Mehr in November last year, to understand what compelled her to kickstart this revolutionary initiative.

“For me I think the most important part was that more than the campaign or more than any initiative, I just really wanted to start a conversation. That’s what inspired me. I wouldn’t have been able to do this if I wasn’t a breastfeeding mother. I wouldn’t have been able to do this if I hadn’t gone through all these problems, all these lack of facilities, if I hadn’t seen how people look at it (breastfeeding). I feel that nothing except sheer experience has made me start this.”

Fair share of problems

For Neha, it’s a cause that’s “extremely close” to her heart.

She says, “When you’re a new breastfeeding mother and a first time parent, you feel like you’re doing this all by yourself. It’s amazing and beautiful and wonderful to be breastfeeding, but it comes with its fair share of problems, whether it’s the mentality, when people look at you a certain way, when you’re trying to breastfeed in public, or the lack of facilities.”

She feels there’s a kind of judgment involving new mothers too which needs to be done away with. “When you

As a woman and a mother and someone who has the ability to say things, I felt like I have a voice and I should use it.” Neha Dhupia