To breastfeed or not to: The working mother’s dilemma

The standard maternity leave for a working mother is three months after their baby is born. The medically recommended exclusive breastfeeding is however supposed to last the first six months of the baby’s life. How a mother continues to provide the precious gift of breast milk when she returns to work remains among today’s biggest challenges for the working mother, writes Christine Wanjiru Wanjala

True, breastfeeding will lower chances of infant mortality and give your baby all important immunity. The experts say it is all the food your baby needs and which mother does not want what is best for her baby?
The first woman to take over the board room may not have thought twice about it, yet it came to haunt the beneficiaries of her bravery. The daunting task of breast feeding exclusively while holding down a full time job after the maternity leave days have expired. How do working mothers do it?

Sourcing for options
Those who have done it set out to surmount every challenge from pumping and storing the milk to having the baby brought over all the while dealing with leaking breasts and uncomfortable milk laden breasts. One mother, Carol, resorted to a breast pump when her three months expired. “ I started towards the end of my leave, expressing enough milk for three weeks so I wasn’t under pressure to produce enough,” says the mother of two. She adds that the wisdom of having a relaxed mind and expressing in advance came from a book. “I read a lot, did research,” she says.
For the greater section of working mothers who want to continue exclusive breast feeding till the six month mark, challenges abound. According to the International Breastfeeding journal, 99 per cent of women in Uganda initiate breastfeeding but the rates of keeping it exclusive for six months remain low. Working mothers are in the group that falls off the wagon along the way.

Sandra Lugemye, a nurse, remembers attempting to have the baby brought over to work, which worked for a while. “But then, it became too tedious and not always could I get the chance to breastfeed her enough. I gave it up and breastfed her only after work and at night,” she says.

Failed attempts
Jackie, a mother of three, says she set out to do the exclusive breastfeeding for her youngest and had her nanny spend the day at an aunt’s house near where she worked, so that she could breastfeed. After a while however, it seemed like an impositon on her aunt. On days she had to be out in the field, she could not make the feeding trips. Marion, a Personal Assistant, says not having enough breast milk due to exhaustion forced her to introduce other foods in the baby’s diet fearing she was depriving him.

No support structures at work
From snickering colleagues to crazy working schedules, it does not take a genius to know work places are not the most breastfeeding-friendly places. That said, some forward thinking companies make provisions for new mothers, among these, Non Government Organisations. Helen, who works for a local NGO, says her organisation allows her to report late(10am) to work, and leave early(4pm), besides giving a six month maternity leave. But, not every working mother is as lucky; many have to find ways of coping, while trying to exclusively breastfeed.

According to Henry Kakande, the deputy chief of party at Strive for Family Health, an initiative that champions family health issues, some provisions should be made available to allow mothers follow the recommendation. “Organisations and employers should realise it is a human right and treat it as such. Breast milk is also the safest food for a child below six months,” says Kakande. His organisation leads by, for example, facilitating employees who are new mothers to travel with their children and child-minders when they have field work. If they live close by, a mother can get some time to go nurse then come back.

The breast pumping option
Working mothers who have managed to feed exclusively swear by expressing the breast milk so the baby can have it on demand even when they are away. But, even this is more than just going out to buy a breast pump. “What a mother needs to know is that breast feeding exclusively takes a lot of commitments and support,” says Christine Namatovu, a mother of two and the founder of Life Care Initiative, an organisation that offers peer support to breast feeding mothers.

She remembers her own experience with her two children, now five and three; “My aunt really stood with me through the first days when I didn’t have milk (she had inverted nipples) through the six months.
On going back to work, which involved being away for up to two weeks, Namatovu expressed her milk and refrigerated it. She recalls once leaving behind 36 bottles for a particularly long trip. For expressing to work however, one requires lots of support extending to the people at home. “It helps to speak to the house help or nanny, whoever is remaining with the baby at home.

From Namatovu’s points of view, if it is all going to go well in those crucial six months, they have to understand the importance of what you are doing and their co-operation will ensure you stick to only breast milk.

For the mother still in doubt, a refresher on the importance of breast feeding is all the inspiration they need.“When you know what you are doing is absolutely important, then you will do whatever it takes, challenges not withstanding. You just purpose to do it,” Namatovu says.