Breastfeeding and work rerun

Due to illness no fresh newsflash today. In honour of the Aruban symposium linked to the implementation of breastfeeding and employment regulation today an overview of newsflashes around the breastfeeding and work theme. Also take a look at Aruban Breastfeeding Mama's: http://arubanbreastfeedingmamas.blogspot.com/ ; Bella Sophia Carriers:
http://www.bellasophiacarriers.blogspot.com/ ; the symposium announcement: http://www.arubachamber.com/events/2011/Expo2011May5.htm
http://eurolacen.blogspot.com/2011/05/breastfeeding-and-work.html
http://eurolacen.blogspot.com/2011/01/breastfeeding-and-work.html
http://eurolacen.blogspot.com/2011/02/breastfeeding-and-employment.html

Breastfeeding and work

(Photo: Miranda Kerr, taking a nursing brake during her work as model)

Around the world organizations like WHO, governments and physicians organizations advise that children are exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life and breastfed combined with suitable other foods into the second year of life or beyond. Many moms really want to do so, but in daily practice many don’t even start and within a month half of children who started out on breastfeeding are weaned to formula, and by 6 months very children are exclusively breastfed. Multiple causes can be pinpointed, some very clear, others less. Working outside the home is a major obstacle for making their breastfeeding goals for many mothers in industrialized countries. In fact, only in countries, like those in Scandinavia, with extended maternity leaves moms have far less trouble reaching those goals. Studies, amongst others by Guendelmans et al, shows that the shorter maternity leave the higher the risk of premature weaning. Breastfeeding promotion alone will not suffice, mothers need to be facilitated to get breastfeeding off to a good start en well-established. Working conditions are a significant actor, too. Many employers are not aware of legal regulations, they may fear jealousy amongst their employees because some can come and go for nursing and others not, and for less productivity when breastfeeding mothers are on and off nursing or pumping. Chow c.s. did find however, that some employers do realize that installment of a breastfeeding friendly protocol may actually lead to more loyal employees. In interesting view comes from Payne&Nicholls, who used Foucauldian analysis to interpret interview data of nursing mothers. They found that breastfeeding women feel they have to juggle to combine work and being a mother and do so while staying invisible for their co-workers and perform to be a good mother and a good employee. A less positive effect of this behavior, according to Payne and Nicholls, is that breastfeeding continues to be invisible, and the combination of work and motherhood stays difficult. In other words: mothers don’t do themselves, each other and their children a favour by juggling their roles and tasks in way that ‘‘they don’t bother anyone’’ with it.
Payne D, Nicholls DA: Managing breastfeeding and work: a Foucauldian secondary analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 2010, 66:1810–1818
Chow T, Smithey Fulmer I, Olson BH: Perspectives of Managers Toward Workplace Breastfeeding Support in the State of Michigan J Hum Lact March 9, 2011
Guendelman S, Kosa JL, Pearl M, Graham S, Goodman J, Kharrazi M: Juggling Work and Breastfeeding: Effects of Maternity Leave and Occupational Characteristics. Pediatrics 2009 123: e38-e46 

Breastfeeding and work

Throughout times and all over the world women and mothers have worked and economies would collapse if the work of women was to stop being carried out.  What makes it different in our time and place is the fact that we separate mothers and children, more so, we exclude children almost completely from our societal view. Children are supposed to belong strictly to the private world and if they are taken out in the world, special services make sure they are kept out of the sight of adults and their attention as possible. For mothers who work outside of house this poses an extra problem. First, they will have to extract the feeding part from the breastfeeding relation, outsource the relation part, and collect the food in an alternative way. Next comes the even bigger problem that in our society we don’t want to be exposed to the knowledge that some women will have to bend themselves backwards and do odd things in order to take care of their children who are made invisible. Collecting the milk becomes, even if in our country in theory it’s legally taken care off quite nicely, a Hercules Task to perform in daily practice. Research all over the world shows that returning to work turns down duration and incidence of breastfeeding and the longer working hours, the less breastfeeding performed. Good counseling and preparation will help a bit, but what really does make a difference is a boss who cares and actively provides for a breastfeeding friendly work place. Companies that provide for a in-company lactation program will ensure more moms breastfeeding longer. Earlier research already showed that women who feel supported in their intention to breastfeed turn out to be more loyal and more reliable employees.
Mandal B, Roe BE, Beck Fein S: The differential effects of full-time and part-time work status on breastfeeding. Health policy (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2010, 97(1):79-86.
Chao-Hua Chuang, Pei-Jen Chang, Yi-Chun Chen, Wu-Shiun Hsieh, Baai-Shyun Hurng, Shio-Jean Lin, Pau-Chung Chen: Maternal return to work and breastfeeding: A population-based cohort study. International journal of nursing studies, 2010, 47(4):461-474.
Ortiz J, McGilligan K, Kelly P: Duration of Breast Milk Expression Among Working Mothers Enrolled in an Employer-Sponsored Lactation Program. PEDIATRIC NURSING, 2004, 30(2)