Any form of life is a result of millions of years of evolution after Nature tried many improvements upon its products.

Nature is the supreme teacher and role model in this world. If we observe keenly we will realise that no organ in a living being, however small and ostentatious, is “superfluous.”

Why are we provided five fingers while one or two would have served just as well? For an answer, don’t look for scientific explanation, you try to work with four fingers, keeping the fifth idle, you will find you are disabled so much. Why do we have a pair of kidney when just a healthy one could have been okay? Why, now we come to think of it, one eye and one ear would have saved facial space, wouldn’t it?

Every organ has a crucial role to play. So when a woman is bestowed with two breasts, they are obviously for providing nourishing meal to the new born. And, Nature gives a lactating bother many allowances that men or non-nursing women do not get.

1.Several studies have proved duration of lactation is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease, and less risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer.

2.Mothers who breastfeed longer than eight months also benefit from bone re-mineralisation and breastfeeding diabetic mothers require less insulin.

3.The hormones released during breastfeeding strengthen the maternal bond.

4.WHO points out, “Breastfeeding is the ideal way of providing infants with the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development.” More important, perhaps for the modern working women, is the medical theory that a lactating mother is less likely to get pregnant and thus spacing kids becomes easier.

There are more benefits for mother and baby. But suffice it to say barring those suffering from TB or AIDS and those under heavy drugs, all nursing mothers have a win-win situation when it comes to breastfeeding the baby.

The young generation is not unaware of these facts, and yet why is there an increasing reluctance to breastfeed? The answer is a false belief that feeding a baby would lead to misshape of the young woman’s breasts. If body shape takes precedence over feeding one’s own flesh and blood, all one can say is that sorry, you don’t know what your are missing.

All women in this green planet can afford to spare a couple of months for the newborn and it’s a woman’s privilege, her alone, to feed her baby.

From August 1, every year, the WHO-led World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated to highlight the benefits of feeding the just born with Mom’s milk. Let us celebrate motherhood with Nature.