Exclusive: Chhavi Mittal opens up on breastfeeding in public, life after two babies and post pregnancy weight loss

Actress Chhavi Mittal is a mother of two little kids and is absolutely a pro at balancing her personal life and professional commitments. The actress knows how to manage time well and not just look after her babies and office, but also takes out time in empowering and guiding new mothers through her posts on social media. In an exclusive tete a tete with TimesofIndia.com, the actress spoke about balancing life, taking out time for herself, breast-feeeding in public and also a lot of more over motherhood. By- Rasika Deshpande. Photo- Instagram.

I would always wonder why people with babies wouldn't come over to our place despite our invitation, or go for parties or attend some fun shows. Now, I understand why they do not do it. I feel it as I have two babies and it's impossible to go out for all your leisure time when you have kids, especially small ones. It's still easy to handle one child but handling two kids is a task. You have to make a routine in your life as per the first baby and then as per the second baby and it's not an easy task. There's hardly any time for yourself. By- Rasika Deshpande. Photo- Instagram.

I have seen in my experience that people tend to pamper the baby more and they want to see the baby, hold the baby, get gifts and in this process, they tend to forget or neglect the mother. Nor just people, the mothers themselves tend to neglect themselves after having a baby. I genuinely want to empower all the mothers and ask them to take care of themselves. If the mother is happy, the baby will be in the best of health. A baby can always sense if the mother is happy, or tensed or unhappy. So what does the mother need to do to stay happy? She needs to find little ways and things that keep her happy. I tend to always find ways and happiness in small things. I would just have a cold coffee or just go in front of the mirror and do my hair to make myself feel and look good. Or at times I am there with my baby and apply lipstick to look good and feel happy. But I am the happiest when I am busy at work. I love coming to the office. I do not feel like to disturb Arham and get him to office as I feel he is comfortable in his room at home. So I manage it all. I give him the time he needs and then quickly come to office and give it 5-7 hours that makes me so happy and relaxed. It gives me a good kick to start my other work and makes me feel fresh. By- Rasika Deshpande. Photo- Instagram.

Recently, the breastfeeding week was going on. Breastfeeding is a beautiful thing between a mother and a child and it's a bond that is impossible to break. Those 20 minutes with the baby is bliss. So I like that us time to be secluded and with no one around. Yes, there are times when we have to step out of the house with the baby. Public breastfeeding should be allowed. If you are allowed to smoke, drink, abuse in public, why not breastfeeding? It's the most beautiful and natural thing to do. All of us have done it at some point of time. Why shy away from it? A lot of importance is given to breastfeeding. A lot of new mothers ask me what to do if they aren't able to breastfeed their babies exclusively. I firstly feel that one needn't stress about it. The first six months one should exclusively breastfeed the baby as it's important. But if you aren't able to due to whatever reason, then top milk is fine at times. I just feel stressing over it isn't required as then you won't be able to produce milk at all. By- Rasika Deshpande. Photo- Instagram.

My daughter is a darling. She amazes me with her maturity and at times I feel relatively amateurish. There are times when she is just the perfect elder sister to Arham. So once I had to go to the restroom and it was only I and Areeza in the house. Arham was sleeping and I had asked her to keep an eye on the baby monitor and see if Arham wakes up and calm him if he does. Areeza did such a fantastic job. She did not get up even once and was disappointed when Arham didn't wake up as she wanted to go and shush him. There are times when Areeza goes to his room to wake him up in the morning and when she is back from school, he has a big smile on his face. Areeza and Arham bond really well. There are times when she does feel of wanting the same things as Arham, like a car seat but we as parents do tell her that she had it when she was a kid and that Arham doesn't have things that she has. So it's all a balance.By- Rasika Deshpande. Photo- Instagram.

If you are able to make a routine for your baby, then it's easy. I make it a point to put my baby to sleep by 7 PM and wake him up by quarter to 7 PM. Areeza has school early morning so I put her to sleep by 8PM. After the kids are off to sleep, it's my time with Mohit. It's our time. We also like to go to bed early as Arham still wakes up for night feeds but from 8-9 PM, it's just Mohit and me. We still haven't gone for dates as such but we do come to office and that's our time again here. By- Rasika Deshpande. Photo- Instagram.

A lot of women aren't talking about fitness now-a-days; they are talking about weight loss. That's my problem. I don't think just losing weight will help. If you are fit, weight loss will follow. It's important to be healthy. The kind of transformation your body goes after delivery, it's very important to look after your body, to nurture your body in order to avoid lifelong issues. Give your body time to recover. For the first few months of my pregnancy, I would walk for long and after a few months, I couldn't step out in the garden and hence would walk in the corridor. That's how I managed to stay active. I beg to differ when people say that one should eat ghee, jaggery and drink milk to produce more milk. So if you eat chicken soup, would you produce chicken soup? No right. The beautiful part about breastfeeding is that milk is formed in fat cells. You can lose weight up to 500 calories by just sitting and breastfeeding. So breastfeed and maintain a balanced diet, restrict calories and you will lose weight instantly and become fit. I tried going to the gym initially but I had to make a choice between office and gym and I decided to give gym a break as my body was still recovering after my C section operation. By- Rasika Deshpande. Photo- Instagram.

Dear mothers, you all are amazing. You are doing the best you can. Don't listen to people who do negative things, don't look at other mothers and try to do what they are doing and compare. Don't do all that. Just do what's right for your baby and go ahead. You are just doing the right thing for your child. By- Rasika Deshpande. Photo- Instagram.