Students display their posters made on the occasion of World Breastfeeding Week on the premises of Patna Women’s College on Tuesday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Aug. 2: The relationship between a mother and her child is undeniably the most beautiful. Students of Patna Women’s College endorsed this sentiment through their creativity at a poster-making competition organised to promote World Breastfeeding Week.

Postgraduate students of the college’s home science department came up with posters that depicted mothers nursing or cuddling their babies at the event planned to promote the benefits of breastfeeding.

Kumari Rupam, a teacher in the home science department, said breastfeeding helps develop an emotio- nal bond between the baby and the mother.

“Our department is celebrating World Breast- feeding Week from Monday. This will continue till Aug- ust 6. We have organised a poster-making, chart-making and slogan-writing competition till August 4, when the results will be declared. We have also organised an exhibition so that students from the other departments can see the creations of the home science students. As our institution is for girls only, it becomes important to raise awareness on such issues.”

Arya Singh, a student of the department, drew a poster depicting the disadvantages of bottle-feeding a newborn.

Arya said: “Breastfeeding is not only important for a child but also for the mother. The mother’s condensed yellowish milk is important for the newborn till six months after the delivery, as it helps in the proper development of the child. It is important for lactating mothers to breastfeed their children as it protects the babies from diseases. This issue is very important and it should be discussed openly. Many women avoid breastfeeding, as they think it will make them flabby but it is not at all true.”

Arya, who was surprised at her father’s encouragement to the project, said: “I chose to work on my poster at night so that no body could see what I was doing, as we don’t talk freely about such topics at home. But while I was working on the poster, I found my father standing behind me. Both my father and mother encouraged me to do well, which helped me overcome my hesitation.”

Sonam Jha, another participant from the department, detailed her poster with the advantages of breastfeeding and the disadvantages of avoiding it.

She said: “It is a common misconception among mothers in urban areas that they will gain weight if they breastfeed their child. Some of them even join gyms right after childbirth to reduce their weight gained during pregnancy. They don’t know that it will lead to serious prob- lems for them in future. Breast cancer is more common among women who avoid breastfeeding. I hope such promotion campaigns will help in spreading the mess- age of breastfeeding among mothers.”

Rupam said the college has also planned a lecture on August 4 where city-based gynaecologist Anju Singh will speak on the benefits of breastfeeding. Students of Patna Women’s College and residents, including some lactating mothers, will be invited to attend the lecture on the institution premises.