The Missing Link in Maternal Health

World Breastfeeding Week (August 1–7) is observed globally to champion breastfeeding as a cornerstone of maternal and child health. This year’s theme,
“Prioritise Breastfeeding: Create sustainable support systems,” shifts the focus from mothers doing more, to the world doing better.
Because if breastfeeding is a maternal superpower, sustainable support systems are the suit.

The Theme This Year Is Not Subtle for a Reasons

Prioritise Breastfeeding: Creating Sustainable Support Systems isn’t just lip service.
It’s a message to workplaces, hospitals, partners, policymakers, communities and anyone who says they care about maternal and child health.

Because newsflash: breastfeeding doesn’t fail from lack of love.
It fails from lack of support.

Support that disappears after maternity leave isn’t support. It’s a trap door.

This Isn’t a Personal Choice. It’s a Public Health Equation.

When mothers breastfeed, everyone wins:

• Healthier babies
• Stronger immunity
• Lower healthcare costs
• Emotionally connected families

But let’s be clear: outcomes like these require infrastructure.
Not just motivation. Not just marketing campaigns.

Want breastfeeding to last? Don’t push the mother.
Build the scaffolding around her.

What Does Sustainable Support Actually Look Like?

Here’s what it’s not:

• Telling her to “just pump” without giving her time or space
• Assuming she’ll “figure it out” on three hours of sleep
• Leaving her alone in a washroom to feed or express milk
• Treating breastfeeding like it’s a hobby, not healthcare

Here’s what it is:

• Paid maternity leave that doesn’t punish ambition
• Clean, private, accessible lactation rooms everywhere
• Partners who share night feeds, laundry, and emotional load
• Health professionals at Tele Tabeeb who offer evidence-based guidance not shame
• Policies that protect, not pressure, mothers to breastfeed

Making Room for the Pump

Pumping is how many mothers make breastfeeding work in the real world through shifts, school runs, commutes, or sleepless nights. It’s not a bonus. It’s the medical standard when direct feeding isn’t possible.

Most moms need to pump every 2 to 4 hours, or 6–8 times a day, to maintain supply and that schedule doesn’t pause for meetings, traffic, or awkward stares.

Support means more than permission.
It means time, space, privacy, and zero judgement whether she’s at a desk, a roadside clinic, a car, or her in-laws’ living room.

Stored milk stays safe for 4 hours at room temp, 4 days in the fridge, and 4 months in a proper freezer but only if she’s allowed to pump without shame or sabotage.

Breastfeeding Works When Systems Do

This week isn’t just about applauding mothers.
It’s about building the systems that don’t burn them out.

• HR needs to show up
• Line managers need to plan ahead
• Hospitals need to stop running on autopilot
• Families need to step in, not just stare
• Society needs to stop outsourcing care to the mother alone

Feeding a child should not be a solo endurance event.
It should be a supported, shared, protected act.

Care is a Policy

If you’re in any position of power at home, at work, in policy and you’re not actively making breastfeeding easier, you’re making it harder.

Let’s stop telling mothers they’re strong.
Start building a world that doesn’t test their strength every day.

Need Real-Time Support? Call Us.

Whether you’re a new parent, a confused dad, a health worker or just want to help someone feed their baby right TeleTabeeb is here for you.

Call 1123 to speak with a certified doctor, 24/7, free of cost.
Because support should never be out of reach.