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Woman Up S3 EXCLUSIVE: Neha Dhupia on breastfeeding and the ‘trigger’ that made her start Freedom to Feed
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On the second episode of Woman Up season 3, we have with us none other than former beauty queen, actress, anchor, and proud mom Neha Dhupia. The actress talks about the stigma associated with breastfeeding in public and why she started Freedom to Feed.
For the unversed, Neha Dhupia is the creator of a community for parents called Freedom to Feed on Instagram, which engages in conversations around breastfeeding in order to destigmatize and normalize it. When asked what made her start it, Neha said, “August of 2019, when my daughter was about eight months old, and I felt that, you know, because I was breast-feeding my daughter, there were times where I was publicly apologetic about it and then I realized there was no need to be. The only way you can get past it is by normalizing breastfeeding, and not sexualizing it.”
Neha further adds, “So, if I’m on a plane, I shouldn’t be the one hiding in the bathroom. If I go to a mall, I shouldn’t be the one saying ‘feeding room kidhar hain?(Where’s the feeding room?) and somebody says ‘O idhar hai, wahaan pe bathroom pe jaake sofe pe baith jao (Oh it’s here, go feed on the sofa in the bathroom)’ and all that kind of stuff. That’s not what you do it for.”
Neha then talks about the incident which acted as a ‘trigger’ for her to start Freedom to Feed. The actress recalled, “And I still remember, I was on a flight one night, and I had to feed Mehr, and I just was holding Mehr, and I was deciding what to do, and finally, everybody was looking at me, and I said ‘okay, I should be going inside the toilet to feed her, but that’s not the right thing to do, I need to normalize it. So, the point is, that’s the trigger that happened with me and the more conversations I had, everyone had a story to tell, or many. Somebody was like, ‘I was feeding in the balcony and there was a guy staring at her.”
Watch Neha Dhupia talk about breastfeeding and Freedom to Feed below:
“So, stop sexualizing it, or stop looking at it like a stigma. Let it be one of the most normal things because it is normal. It is the most natural thing, and you’re feeding your child, there can’t be something more beautiful and normal than that. But, that started it, and now, we talk about everything and it’s a place that comes with no judgment,” concludes Neha.
For the unversed, Neha Dhupia has two children with husband Angad Bedi. Their elder daughter, Mehr Dhupia Bedi is three years old, while their son, Guriq was born in October last year.
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Pinkvilla/ Image: Neha Dhupia/ Instagram
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