“They said I wasn’t prepared, that I wasn’t patient enough,” said Sri Indah Manurung, 47, remembering the comments she received after opting to feed infant formula to her newborn instead of breast milk.

Sri Indah, a financial consultant in Tangerang, Banten, wanted to exclusively breastfeed her two boys Davin and Darren, now respectively 15 and 10, when they were born. But she produced a low milk supply after she gave birth to her eldest son.

“It did not even reach 60 milliliters, and it ran out around three months after [his] birth,” she told The Jakarta Post.

At first, Sri Indah thought it was because of a lack of preparation on her part. Having to resort to formula milk for Davin, she was determined to breastfeed her second son exclusively. She recalled trying everything, from taking supplements almost religiously, eating sop ayam kampung, a rich soup made from a breed of free-range chicken native to Indonesia, drinking soy milk and to investing in an expensive breast pump.

Unfortunately, history repeated itself: she did not produce enough breast milk. She finally gave up after noticing Darren’s pale skin as her son became sickly. For the second time, Sri Indah relented and started giving Darren infant formula, just as she did with his older brother.

“Honestly, I envy mothers who can produce an abundant flow of breast milk,” she said.

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