Nursing Your Baby and Keeping Your Job
By Barbara
Behrmann, Ph.D.
“Being asked to
decide between your passion for work and your
passion for your children was like being asked
by your doctor whether you preferred him to
remove your brain or your heart.” Mary Kay
Blakely in American Mom: Motherhood,
Politics, and Humble Pie 1994.
Did you know that
the U.S. remains the only industrialized country
in the world that doesn’t offer women paid
maternity leave? That unlike ¾ of the countries
in the world, the U.S. does not conform to
standards set by the International Labor
Organization involving time to breastfeed or
express milk during work hours? And that in
Norway, where breastfeeding rates are third
highest in the world, breast milk production is
counted in the national food statistics? Back
in the U.S., breast milk may have sentimental
value, but if it is not exchanged in the market
place, it is off the economic radar screen.
So…in a culture
that places so little real value on
mothering, let alone breastfeeding, what’s a
nursing mother to do? How can you hold on to
your job while holding on to your baby? You
need – and want – to earn a decent living. You
may, in fact, derive a large chunk of your
identity from your job. But how can you keep
your baby healthy while also keeping that job?
The answer is not
to become more like men theoretically
“unencumbered” by the care and responsibility of
children. Nor is the answer to abandon our
jobs. The real answer, of course, requires a
change in society, and a change in the work
environment.
The good news is
that since the late 1980s, hundreds of companies
have invested in corporate lactation programs.
In fact, 81 percent of corporations listed in
the 1998 100 Best Companies for Working
Mothers offer them.
Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, a
breastfeeding advocate, reports that in its
first year, Aetna, Inc., saved an estimated
$1435 in medical claims and three days of sick
leave per breastfed baby - a total annual
savings of $108,737.
Moreover, several states have passed laws
guaranteeing a woman’s right to pump her milk
while at work.
Expressing milk
may help you feel more connected to your baby.
As one New York City mother puts it, “I always
saw expressing milk at work in a very positive
light. I know women who hated it, like it was
one more overwhelming obligation that hung over
their heads, but I never felt that way. It
helped me feel that I was present with my
children even when I was physically absent. It
helped me achieve a sort of balance.”
Unfortunately,
you may not work in an environment conducive to
pumping. And your employer may not be so
enlightened. Niesha, for example, a 17 year-old
mother, explains, “When my son was three weeks
old, I went to work at a telemarketing job. I’m
no executive, I didn’t have my own office, and I
couldn’t pump my milk at a place like that. And
who else was going to hire me? After a week I
said, “Forget it.” I didn’t want them cussing
me out, I missed my baby the whole time, and my
breasts were so engorged by the time I got
home. I decided to be home with him until he’s
of an age where I don’t have to worry about
pumping when I’m gone.”
Like Niesha, 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. In
fact, we spend an extra 1.3 billion
dollars to cover sick-child office visits and
prescriptions for respiratory infections, ear
infections, and diarrhea in children who aren’t
breastfed. And, of course, employers end up
spending more money in lost work time when
parents take time off to care for a sick child.
Not all mothers
will choose to breastfeed, but all
mothers deserve the right to. We need
the security that we don’t have to choose
between work and family, between a pay check and
our children’s well-being. But we do not yet
live in a world in which what makes women
different from men is imbued with the same
cultural value as what makes us similar.
“Changing the status of mothers by gaining real
recognition for their work,” writes Ann
Crittenden, in The Price of Motherhood: Why
the Most Important Job in the World is Still the
least Valued, “is the great unfinished
business of the woman’s movement.
Sidebar: Keep
Your Baby Healthy While Keeping Your Job
You and your baby
can’t wait until U.S. society becomes more
enlightened. Until then, there is still a lot
you can do to keep your baby healthy – and
keep your job.
●
Talk to your employer ahead of time, but don’t
ask for permission. Simply explain that you
will be breastfeeding and you want to know what
options are available. Can you work part-time?
Can you take some of the work home? Can you
bring your baby to work? Can you arrange to
have someone bring you your baby when he or she
needs to nurse? Where can you express your
milk? They may not give you the answers you
desire, but it’s harder for them to ignore your
needs if you aren’t meek about asserting them.
●
If your employer doesn’t have a corporate
lactation policy, a pumping room set up for
mothers, or even a clean, private place for you
to go, share with them some information about
how breastfeeding benefits their bottom line. A
good source of information can be found at
www.medela.com/NewFiles/corplactprgm.html.
●
Expressing milk is key, but not all pumps are
created equal. Many of the semi-automatic and
double breast pumps sold at chain stores provide
too little stimulation to release the milk and
may cause discomfort or pain. Instead, purchase
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, an excellent site
is:
www.artofbreastfeeding.com.
Also visit
www.medela.com or
www.ameda.com.
Both sites also offer lists of rental locations.
●
Make sure your care-giver is supportive of
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 leaving him and
immediately upon
picking him up.
Make sure they don’t give your baby a bottle
shortly before your pick-up time, so you can
nurse right away.
One mother explains
her arrangements: “Everyone
knew I went to the daycare around lunchtime to
nurse my son. It didn't matter what was
happening at work - when the pager went off, I
left, period. The daycare and I worked out a
pretty good system. I pumped and left frozen
milk at the daycare for the morning and then I
fed him at lunch. The day care would page me
with a code for feeding, and page me 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 facilitates night time
nursing which will help you to keep up your milk
production. This is especially important if you
and your baby are apart for long stretches of
time during the day.
While co-sleeping
means that some nursing mothers spend less
overall time awake, if you end up not sleeping
well, this is important to consider, too. Being
exhausted can negatively affect your milk
production. “Now that I am breastfeeding and
pumping,” explains a mother in Syracuse, NY, if
I have a bad night’s sleep, my milk production
is half what it is when I have a good night’s
sleep. I can’t believe how closely related it
is. I can say, “Look, I’m not getting much milk.
I have to get a really good night’s sleep
tonight and I have to eat really well today.”
My husband is very supportive of that – I can
sleep to noon if I want to.
●
Finally, if
you are considering supplementing with formula,
remember that this will reduce the overall
amount of milk you produce. To avoid too much
of a reduction in supply, you may want to pump
more frequently or nurse more often when you and
your baby are together. Again, nursing during
the night may be especially helpful.
In the end, whatever you do, make
sure that the choices you make are right for you
and your family.
Back to Barbara's
Articles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Barbara L. Behrmann, Ph.D. is a writer, researcher, and author of
The
Breastfeeding Café: Mothers Share the Joys, Secrets & Challenges of Nursing,
University of Michigan Press, 2005. She is a frequent speaker around the
country and is available for talks, readings, and conducting birthing and
breastfeeding writing circles. The mother of two formerly breastfed
children, Barbara lives in upstate New York. |
