Neha Dhupia Promotes Conversation On Breastfeeding: 'Can’t be Cancelling My Life Because I Am A Mum'

In 2019, when her daughter was 10 months old, Neha Dhupia initiated a discussion about normalising breastfeeding. Later, she created a community on Instagram called Freedom to Feed, aiming to support new mothers. Neha stresses on the the importance of normalising breastfeeding and advocates for continued conversation on the subject.

“It takes one voice to spark a chatter. Conversations around breastfeeding are so necessary. One of the reasons why I started it was because this is an isolated experience that one has only when you do. Sexualisation around breastfeeding needs to stop and it will change only if we have conversations about it. I have come across so many women who have said the same thing in their own words. I felt I can’t be cancelling my life because I am a mum or I have decided to breastfeed my child and so I can’t go back to work. I want to do it all. I want to live in a society that’s accepting of me with in whichever shape and form of being a new mum. And if I am an essential food source to my child, why does it still come as a stigma? I remember when I had to feed my daughter in a plush mall, I was asked to go to the bathroom to feed. So that needs to change,” she said during a chat with Hindustan Times.

Neha Dhupia started a community called “Freedom to Feed” on Instagram to support new moms and normalise breastfeeding. Many fellow actors who initially questioned its purpose ended up loving the community after becoming mothers themselves. Dhupia received support from various celebrities, including Kajal Aggarwal, Soha Ali Khan, Kalki, Surveen Chawla, Gabriella Demetriades and Freida Pinto. She also noted that women in rural India feel more empowered to breastfeed openly in public gatherings compared to women with more options and facilities. “I feel this is probably, one of the places where I feel women in rural India are far more empowered than women who have a lot more options or facilities. Women working in a tea plantation or a construction site or out working or even housewife feels free to feed in say a gathering. They are empowered,” she said.