Working Moms

The audience intended for this paper are mothers that have a desire to breastfeed, employers, clinicians, breastfeeding advocacy groups and federal and state legislators involved in policy change.

As you get ready to welcome your baby and introduce her to this world, you are flooded with thoughts of how to take care of your little one in the best possible way. You find that motherhood is not only about loving and caring, it is also about making a few conscious decisions to help your child grow in a healthy manner. One such decision is whether to breastfeed your baby or to offer her formula nutrition.

Very few experts disagree with the fact that breastfeeding is the optimal choice for the infant. However, decreasing breastfeeding rates raise many questions as to why mothers are not choosing the best nutritional choice for their children. Despite breast milk being the obvious choice for infant feeding due to the health, psychological, and economic benefits, many mothers still decide to feed their infants formula due to lack of knowledge and support, difficulties with breastfeeding, and social embarrassment. Changes need to be made with formula companies, medical professionals, and the public opinion of breastfeeding in order to give nursing mothers the support they deserve.

Having a baby and being flexible is really important when it comes to bottle feeding and breastfeeding. Bottle feeding makes this a little harder because of heating to the bottle, measuring, and sometimes trying to find a bottle. Breastfeeding make this a little easier because if you pump milk the night before, you can have up to three bottles for in the refrigerator. Sometimes if you do not have any milk in a bottle, one can also just let the baby breastfeed by sucking on the nipple. Serena Meyer and Ryan Teglene explain in their article

A lot of mothers are not being told how wonderful breastfeeding is for their health. Whether out of inexperience or due to the impact of the artificial baby milk industry, many health care providers fail to let mothers know of the facts. As other new mothers find out about these facts, more mothers will not merely choose to breastfeed for a short period of time to provide early disease control for their baby, but will continue to breastfeed, providing the best results both for their child and for

Deciding whether to formula feed or breastfeed ones baby is one of the biggest and most crucial decisions expectant and new parents will make before giving birth. Organizations such as World Health Organizations (WHO), American Medical Association (AMA), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and American Dietetic Association recommend breastfeeding as the best option for the newborn. Most of these organizations and other supporters of breastfeeding affirm that it defends the baby against infection, reduces the risks of certain chronic conditions and prevents allergies. To decide if you want to bottle-feed or breastfeed one needs to do some research on both methods of feeding. Breastfeeding provides the best nutrition for a baby, but formula feeding a newborn can also produce a highly healthy, happy child. The decision to breastfeed or bottle-feed is up to the mother, her comfort level, her ability to produce milk, as well as her religion or culture.

Women in the work force have several things to contend with, like jobs not having a place for mom to pump, having adequate time for mom to spend pumping, and the stresses of being in the work force can cause lack of production alone. It took me until my third child to be able to exclusively breastfeed and having been a part of the work force for the first two I can attest the difficulties that come along with it. With my oldest was breastfed and I pumped at work. I had a place to pump, but the only times I was allowed to pump on my assigned breaks, which left little time for lunch or anything else. The increasing stress of the job reduced my milk, to which my doctor suggested supplements to help. After only four short months I completely lost the ability to breastfeed. In Brody’s article she mentions the emotional distress that mothers encounter when they are unsuccessful in breastfeeding their infants. I think this partly is due to the push by the campaigners to breastfeed only, or at least the first six months. Women after having babies are in recovery. As my OBGYN explained to me, women are reclaiming their bodies, their hormones are all out of whack and trying to return to some form of “normal”. This can be part of the increasing numbers of women with post-partum

Whether to breastfeed or to formula feed is one of the many decisions parents have to make when caring for a newborn baby. The decision may seem simple in which parents base there decision on comfort, convenience and finance but little do most parents know the decision being made can have damaging long term effects than that of the present. There is plenty of research that state the significance of breastfeeding that go far beyond the extent of bonding between mother and newborn. Although, that too is important. Breast milk is known to contain antibodies which can help the newborn in developing a strong immune system which influence all the body systems. Research has shown that breast-milk can help prevent long term diseases such as

I feel wholly unqualified to talk about such a subject and yet, I did successfully nurse my first baby for 18 months so I guess that somewhat qualifies me to share something on it. First off, let me just say that although I am a very strong believer in breastfeeding, I am not one who believes all women can always breastfeed. I've been close to a few moms who have wanted so badly to breastfeed and been unable to, despite months of effort, pumping, working with a lactation consultant, and so on. Seeing this first-hand makes me instead say that I believe most women can usually breastfeed. God has designed mother's milk to be the best form of nutrition for an infant

Breastfeeding is a healthy, natural ability of every woman, and should therefore be socially acceptable and supported by everyone. For some reason this is not the case in our society, in fact breastfeeding continues to be a controversial issue that must be addressed by women’s rights activist groups. Breastfeeding is a feminist issue because the natural act has been medicalized and devalued by major companies because of their interests in profits in bottle feeding. According to Penny Van Esterik a coordinator in the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), women should never have to choose between their duties as a mother and their duties as a responsible, hard working employee. Our society pressures, exploits and oppresses women

The employed mother in the United States makes up a significant portion of America’s work force and is an important contributor to a successful business and the economy. The CDC reports that working mothers make up 70% of the workforce but only 10% of mothers nationally successfully breastfeed to 6 months of age (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], n.d). Due to the increasing demands of the economy and a push for women to stay in the workforce, many more mothers are now faced with the unique challenges to maintain the ability to breastfeed as long as they can while working. Approximately, 79.2%

Throughout most of human history, breast milk has been the one food that infants have thrived on. Breastfeeding is recognized throughout the world as the preferred method of feeding infants due to its health benefits and nutritional quality. Recommendations by leading health organizations echo the importance of breastfeeding by setting forth guidelines.

Memory Indicator and LCD Display – Some pumps have a programmable memory and even an LCD panel to help you record the pattern of your pumping; no need to reset it every time you use it.

Breast milk is seen to be one of the most ideal forms of nutrition for infants. Organizations from across the world recommend universal breastfeeding as a way to ensure a healthy and stable development for a newborn. The American Academy of Pediatrics (APP), specifically, encourages a mother to exclusively breastfeed the infant for the first 6 months of life. In addition, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests to continue making breast milk a main component in the child’s diet for their first year of life. However, complications occur and some individuals may not have the means to provide breast milk to an infant. In these specific situations, a mother or caregiver can obtain breast milk from milk banks or use a commercial formula.

Breastfeeding is an experience that is foreign for most people until they actually experience it. I had limited knowledge of breastfeeding until I interviewed my friend who currently has two children. Before she had her first child, she read a lot of books and watched a lot of videos, but they still didn’t quite capture the experience. She is a nurse and with her healthcare background, she felt confident about the importance of breastfeeding her children, especially in the first 6 -12 months. Before her baby, she was worried about the physical process and what it would feel like. After birth, she was more worried about her baby being able to breastfeed. For the first few weeks, her baby was having a hard time breastfeeding and she had to occasionally