Breastfeeding is challenging at home without proper support. Imagine you are going back to work and you have the facility to breastfeed your baby at work but you are unaware of how it works, then this article will be helpful for you.
Obstacles you will face while breastfeeding at work
1. Lack of facilities in the workplace such as lack of privacy or lack of access to the refrigerator to store milk.
2. No break is given while the mother wants to breastfeed the baby or pump.
3. Lack of support from colleagues psychologically affects the women resulting in them stopping breastfeeding at work
4. Being treated differently or unfairly by the employer since you breastfeed at work
How can you overcome these obstacles?
Your baby has to be exclusively breastfed for six months. After that, you can introduce solid food slowly. You need to know everything about breastfeeding and be well prepared to do it work. Speak to your employer priorly about flexible working hours. Talk to them about having a private space and see if there is any refrigerator at work. If there is no refrigerator, carry a cooler box.
Learn to use a breast pump so that you can store milk and even your colleagues or any other caregiver at work can warm it and give it to the baby when required if you are not available. Label and mention the date in the bottle before keeping it in the fridge so that the caregiver would know which bottle to use first. Train your baby to bottle feed too so that in case you are not available bottle-feed can be done and the baby will be comfortable with it. Talk to other breastfeeding mums who are back at work and take their advice. Keep breastfeeding pillows, nursing dresses, and all other things required for breastfeeding handy.
How can the employer help?
Providing the mothers a clean and private room for feeding. Allowing the mothers to take breaks whenever necessary and providing flexible working hours. Teach other employees about breastfeeding and have a lactation consultant or caregiver for supporting breastfeeding mothers. Treating them as equal to other workers without discriminating is important.
But what is happening in reality?
According to a study, 90 percent of the breastfeeding mothers at work reported that they didn’t have access to any private room and had to pump or sometimes even feed the baby in the bathroom. Breast Milk is like any other food and bathrooms are not places to have food. The majority of them never reported these since they felt shy or embarrassed. Therefore it is very important that you talk to your supervisor about the lactation facilities at work before you go on maternity leave so that they will also have time to make arrangements in case they haven’t before. In a survey conducted in the US, breastfeeding mothers at work have stated that they need reasonable time for breaks in between work for a year for pumping or feeding the baby. In the US, policies have been made and there are helplines to support the breastfeeding mothers at work while in India no such policies exist. Hence Family members, partners, employers, and colleagues must be aware of the difficulties a breastfeeding woman faces at work and provide them with as much help as they can.
