Breastfeeding
When becoming a mother, I never had a second thought about breastfeeding. It was a natural thing that occurred between mother and child. I would hear stories of some women’s breastfeeding journeys and the ease or difficulty of keeping up with the needs of their child. I would have never thought that this would be a problem for me until it was. I had to stop breastfeed my daughter when she was 7 months old because I couldn’t keep up with my job and produce enough milk to feed my child for the next day at her daycare. This added more stress and effected my milk flow which ultimately caused me to call it quits. It was more difficult afterwards since my daughter had a milk-based allergy and the formula she could drink cost me $80 a week. Her insurance gave me the run around and ultimately wouldn’t cover the cost of formula and if I wanted to be successful at my job I needed to spend less time trying to find places to pump and store my milk and more time in the classroom. I had felt defeated as a mother, that I couldn’t balance my career and my duties as a mother.
In the UK, “Workplace regulations require employers to provide suitable facilities where pregnant and breastfeeding mothers can rest. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recommends that it's good practice for employers to provide a private, healthy and safe environment for breastfeeding mothers to express and store milk. The toilets are not a suitable place to express breastmilk.” (N.H.S., 2018) I truly feel that if this was mandated and a room was created in all school facilities this would have made breastfeed a lot easier and stress free. Many times, I would find myself on the floor of a storage closet. Or would have to pump in an area that is only separate by a partition where everyone could hear the loud noise of the pump.
Having found this information, I feel that the agency I work for should assure that the schools, in which our preschools are associated with, should provide a safe and designated area in which a nursing mother can pump comfortably.
Reference
NHS. (2018, January 5). Breastfeeding and going back to work. Retrieved from https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/breastfeeding-back-to-work/
You had the opportunity to breast-feed for seven months. Unfortunately a lot of mothers aren’t able to do even seven months. As you know is different from every mother continue to stay focus on your career as well as the seven months that you breast-feed your child .
ReplyDeleteHi Cheryl,
DeleteYour absolutely right. Its funny, if you look at the comment I just left on your blog I wrote about my husband reminding me that there are families who do not have access to breast milk. Also, families who strictly formula feed their children since birth.
I really wished I could have strictly breast fed throughout her 7 months and also even longer. I think my main issue here is that my agency needs to set rules and have a dedicated location for breastfeeding mother's to pump at each of their preschool sites. Since this blog a few teachers shared with me their choice of stopping breastfeeding because of the hours required here at our agency.
Thank you so much for your contribution! This information surprised me, as I was under the impression it was already the law to provide breaks for pumping and a location for pumping other than the bathroom in the United States. It is frustrating that it isn't already the norm, as breastfeeding provides so many benefits for babies and I feel businesses should be doing all they can to support a mother's breastfeeding journey! You did a great thing by breastfeeding your baby as long as you could. My blog post this week was about the mental health of parents and I believe the choice you made to stop breastfeeding was vital to your own mental health!
ReplyDelete