Breastfeed your baby and keep your job
“Being asked to decide between your passion for work and your passion for your children was like your doctor asking you if you’d rather have your brain or your heart removed.” Mary Kay Blakely in American Mom: Motherhood, Politics, and Humble Pie 1994.
In a culture that places so little real value on motherhood, let alone breastfeeding, what’s a breastfeeding mother to do? She needs, and she wants, to earn a decent living. In fact, she can derive a large part of her identity from her work. But you don’t want her to be at the expense of your children.
Unfortunately, many employed women lack on-site child care and have short paid maternity leaves, inflexible work schedules, employers with inadequate breastfeeding information, and resentful co-workers. This compromises the health and well-being of many of our nation’s children. And of course, employers end up spending more money on lost work time when parents take time off to care for a sick child.
But you and your baby can’t wait until American society becomes more enlightened. Until then, there’s still a lot you can do to keep your baby healthy and keep her job.
● Talk to your employer ahead of time.
This does not mean that you ask for permission. Just explain that you will be breastfeeding and that you want to know what options are available. Can you work part time? Can you take some of the work home with you? Can you take your baby to work? Can you arrange for someone to bring your baby to you when you need to breastfeed? Where can you extract your milk? In fact, several states have passed laws guaranteeing a woman’s right to express milk while she works. Her employer may not give him the answers she wants, but it’s harder for him to ignore her needs if she isn’t meek in affirming them.
● Give them information to show how breastfeeding benefits their bottom line.
If your employer doesn’t have a corporate lactation policy, a pumping room set up for mothers, or even a clean, private place you can go, you can find a good source of information at http://www.medela.com/NewFiles /corplactprgm.html.
● Learn to express milk.
Expressing milk can help you feel more connected to your baby. As one New York City mom puts it: “I’ve always viewed pumping at work in a very positive light. I know women who hated it, like it was just another overwhelming obligation hanging over their heads, but I never felt like this. It helped me feel like I was present with my kids even when I was physically absent. It helped me achieve a kind of balance.”
Expressing milk is key, but not all pumps are the same. Many of the double and semi-automatic breast pumps sold in chain stores provide very little stimulation to release milk and may cause discomfort or pain. Instead, buy or rent a high-quality electric pump (cheaper, in the long run, than formula). See if your employer will cover the cost. (Remind them that companies save money on breastfed babies.)
For more information on breast pumps, a great site is: http://www.artofbreastfeeding.com. Also visit http://www.medela.com or http://www.ameda.com. Both sites also offer listings of rental locations.
● Make sure your caregiver supports breastfeeding.
He or she should be willing to use your expressed breast milk, rather than formula, and be comfortable with you nursing your baby just before you put it down and immediately after you pick it up. Make sure your baby is not given a bottle shortly before pick-up time so she can breastfeed right away.
One mother explains her arrangements: “Everyone knew that I went to daycare at lunchtime to breastfeed my son. It didn’t matter what happened at work: when the pager went off, I left, period. The daycare and I made a Pretty good system. I pumped and left frozen milk at the nursery in the morning and then fed her at lunch. The nursery would call me with a code for feedings and let me know with a phone number for all other emergencies.”
● If you don’t smoke or abuse drugs or alcohol, consider sleeping with or near your baby.
Co-sleeping makes it easier to breastfeed at night, which in turn will help you maintain your milk supply. This is especially important if you and your baby are apart for long periods of time during the day. But whatever your sleeping arrangements, try to get plenty of rest. Being exhausted can negatively affect your milk production.
“Now that I’m nursing and pumping,” explains a mother in Syracuse, NY, if I sleep poorly, my milk supply is half what it is when I sleep well. I can’t believe how closely related it is. I can say, ‘Look, I’m not getting much milk.’ I have to sleep very well tonight and I have to eat very well today. My husband is very supportive of that: I can sleep until noon if I want.
● Delay supplementation, if possible.
If you are considering supplementing with formula, remember that this will reduce the total amount of milk you produce. To avoid too much reduction in supply, you may want to pump more often or nurse more often when you and your baby are together. Again, nursing at night can be especially helpful.
In the end, even if you don’t choose to continue breastfeeding, you definitely deserve the right to do so.