Keeping up with breastfeeding can be a challenge. These mothers share why it is time-consuming, labour-intensive, and dependent on workplace and social support.
It can be difficult to keep up with breastfeeding. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that only one quarter of babies at six months drink breast milk exclusively, despite the fact that nearly 83% of babies begin breastfeeding. That steady decline speaks to the wide-ranging challenges parents face in trying to breastfeed. Among them: It’s laborious, it’s time-consuming, and it depends on workplace and societal support.
In July, the AAP updated its breastfeeding recommendations, saying that breastfeeding for two years or longer is acceptable if both mother and child agree.
Dr Laiyin Ma is busy with a four-year-old, a two-year-old, and a three-month-old at home, as well as opening a private ophthalmology practice recently. Even so, balancing work and breastfeeding feels easier now than it did when she nursed her older daughters during her residency and fellowship.
Four weeks after the birth of her oldest daughter and two weeks after her second, Ma returned to work. She pumped milk in stealthy bursts in clinic rooms, propping her chair against the door to prevent patients and colleagues from barging in. She dripped breast milk under her surgical gown during long operations.
Ma’s hours have improved, and she has an office with a locking door, but she still feels relentless pressure to keep up. If an appointment runs long, she sometimes misses her midday pump.
“I’m constantly checking how many ounces I have for tomorrow, then I calculate how much she has consumed,” Ma said. “I’m always, always stressed.
She hopes to pass along protective COVID antibodies to her daughter as she nurses her daughter, since she is well versed in the health benefits of breast milk. She is struck by the irony of doctors and nurses struggling to follow health guidelines that they themselves recommend. “People don’t realize how difficult breastfeeding is for women in medicine,” Ma said.
