Returning To Work After Maternity Leave? Breastfeeding Tips For Working Moms

Breastfeeding becomes really challenging for working women if they lack familial support and organisational support.

Breast milk is the best source of infant nutrition and breastfeeding contributes to maternal health. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) recommend exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life and to continue breastfeeding with complementary foods at least until the age of 2.

But many a times speaking about exclusive breastfeeding is easy but to make it in practice is difficult. Especially in case of low- and middle-income countries like India, where the common women strive to achieve a balance between their work and home, breastfeeding itself can become a huge issue in between. Many women overcome this either by giving the babies artificial feeding or starting early weaning which can lead to allergies or digestive issues later on for the babies. An employed women find this situation as really challenging if she lacks familial support, organisational support and lack of confidence in continuing breast feeding.

Anju M, Lactation Consultant, Humm Care, shares some tips that can help ease the breastfeeding journey for working women.

How to balance breastfeeding and professional life

A mother should start planning for her exclusive breastfeeding even before delivery, firstly by mentally preparing for breastfeeding, accepting the barriers and secondly by choosing a workspace which is baby and mother friendly. A workplace which offers a better option for breastfeeding by providing lactation breaks in between work, providing a lactation space/feeding room, breast milk extraction facilities. A well supportive colleague at workspace can help the mother reduce her stress by sharing extra workload. Discuss with your employer regarding a work from home facility if available. Knowing the workplace policy is very important before you seek a provision for exclusive breast feeding at your institution.

An electric pump with a double pumping kit is a good choice for use at work.
Look for childcare or a babysitter close to your work (rather than close to your home), so that you can feed the baby in between work breaks.
If you cannot go to your baby for feeds during working hours, decide how often you will need to express milk. Expressing small amounts of milk during quick breaks (Double pumping) can help you maintain the milk supply.

Alerting your baby’s caretaker that you are about to reach home after work will help them make the baby ready for a feed. Being with the child for the rest of the evening and night feeding can help the mother maintain her breast milk supply. The mother and the baby may feel adjustment problems initially while restarting work and the mother may experience less milk production, but this can be overcome by breast milk pumping and being stress free.

A well supportive spouse who can share the responsibility of caring for the baby and managing household chores will also help the mother reduce her stress and ensure her good sleep at night so that the milk production will not get effected.

Ensuring a good source of all the essential nutrition required to maintain breast milk production should also be considered. A healthy mother can only rear a healthy baby. Any essential nutrition lacking by the mother should be replaced with food or supplements. So, a regular follow up should be done by the lactation consultant until the mother stops breastfeeding.

Conclusion

Interventions at the workplace are important in protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding among working mothers. To achieve equitable work environments and fair nutritional opportunities for infants of working mothers, interventions should focus at the three ecological layers individual, interpersonal, and organizational.