For babies separated from mothers, support pours in offering mother’s milk

Pragathi Badarinath felt the walls closing in on her when she got her test results earlier this month. The new mother was COVID-19 positive and had to be hospitalised. She was separated from her eight

Pragathi Badarinath felt the walls closing in on her when she got her test results earlier this month. The new mother was COVID-19 positive and had to be hospitalised. She was separated from her eight-month-old infant and he was not accepting formula, perhaps due to the trauma of his mother not being around. A message of hope and support arrived in the form of many new mothers who came to her rescue. Lactating mothers in her support circle in Bengaluru, including COVID-19 survivors, started donating breast milk for her infant. This free service lasted till she she returned home after getting discharged just before lockdown. “We decided on a centralised collection at one woman’s house close to Ms. Badarinath’s house. We knew every drop counted. One of the woman would drop off the box at her house,” said Prachi Pendurkar, founder of Snugbub, which runs a mothers’ support group.