New Mom In Surat Dies By Suicide: We Need More Awareness On Postpartum Depression

A 33-year-old woman ended her life by hanging herself with a dupatta in Surat on Thursday night. The mother of two newborn twins was severely depressed as she wasn’t able to feed her 36-day-old babies. The deceased is identified as Bindu Rajput, a resident of Icchapore.

The woman’s body was sent to the New Civil Hospital (NCH) for postmortem. The woman had been married for five years and had just delivered twin boys 36 days earlier.

New Mom In Surat Dies By Suicide

As one of the boys fell ill, the woman believed that her insufficient breast milk supply might have been the reason, as the babies used to keep crying for not getting enough milk. Her husband, Devendra, a Nepali, works at a fast food joint in the city.

Postpartum Depression

The postpartum period, also known as the fourth trimester, is one of the toughest phases in a woman’s life. A pregnant woman is put on a pedestal and given royal treatment until she delivers the baby. The minute she gives birth, everyone’s attention goes to the baby, and the mother is forgotten. Seldom do people realise that along with the baby, a new mother has been born. She needs equal love, care, and attention from her family and friends.

Society expects a new mother to just jump out of bed as soon as she gives birth and start nurturing the baby. Postpartum depression is a serious issue that is often neglected or trivialised. The lack of awareness about it risks the lives of many new mothers.

A new mother is often criticised whenever something goes wrong with the baby, especially with regard to feeding. Secreting milk itself is an exhausting process for one baby let alone two. Women’s breasts don’t secrete milk for various reasons, such as not having enough milk-making ducts to meet the baby’s demand, lack of sleep, lack of adequate nourishment, high blood pressure, hormonal problems, mental health problems like stress, anxiety, depression, etc. But how many people consider this before passing unsolicited comments to a new mother?

Usually, people who advocate breastfeeding outnumber those who normalise formula feeding, for obvious reasons. Even mothers who formula-feed their babies are hesitant to reveal it for the fear of being shamed, judged, and criticised. The concept of formula feeding needs to be normalised instead of making mothers feel guilty for not being able to secrete breast milk. People need to realise that the majority of mothers do go to the ends of the earth to try to breastfeed their children. But sometimes it just doesn’t happen due to various reasons.

Normalise Formula Feeding

A mother is the one who carries the child for nine months, goes through labour, cares for the child around the clock, prioritises the needs of her child over her own, and loves her child unconditionally. Yet, sometimes she may formula-feed her child for reasons of her own (health reasons or a personal choice), and she’s not answerable to anyone.

So what if her body doesn’t secrete enough breast milk? What if she chooses to formula-feed? It’s her body, her child, and her choice! Yes, breast is best, but at the end of the day, fed is best! This is one of the most important things that every new mother should be told.

However, we don’t hear that as much as we would like. Almost everyone—family, relatives, friends, and even some doctors—blames and shames women for being unable to breastfeed. Does anyone ever wonder how distressed she would be when her body refuses to feed her baby? People spew venomous words at new mothers instead of supporting her situation and choice!

All this does is worsen her baby blues, which develop into postpartum depression. Can society please acknowledge that a new mother has just risked her life to bring another life into this world? Can society understand that giving birth takes a toll on a woman’s physical and mental health and be more considerate towards new mothers?

Suggested Reading: Sameera Reddy Shares How She Dealt With Postpartum Stress

Views expressed by the author are their own