Breastfeeding

In my last post, I wrote about my own experience with childbirth. Immediately following the birth of my daughter, we attempted to breastfeed for the first time. This was a new experience for the both of us and one that did not come as easy to me as I had hoped. Throughout my hospital stay, we received many visits from lactation consultants who worked with us (myself, my husband, and baby) on the ways to properly breastfeed. I had no idea that there was so much that went into breastfeeding but luckily we finally got the hang of it. We were able to breastfeed for the first nine weeks but my daughter was no longer gaining weight and I had to return to work and I could not figure out the logistics of pumping while at work. Many people gave me ideas but no one seemed to understand the demands of teaching in an early childhood setting at the beginning of the school year; there is no free time.

Since breastfeeding is so important and “breast is best” is thrown around in all different settings, I found it very difficult to end that particular journey. I felt that I was not giving my daughter her best chance at being healthy but I also had to accept that she needed to gain weight and I was not able to produce enough for her.

In Australia in 2010, 96% of babies were breastfed initially. At around four months, only 39% of babies were exclusively breastfed, and at six months, only 15% were breastfed. In Australia, it is illegal to discriminate against a mother who is breastfeeding in public. In Australia, pumping breastmilk at work is allowed under their law and workplaces should work to give them that opportunity. While these laws are similar to the United States, the percentages of breastfed babies in the United States are different with 79% of babies being breastfed initially and 49% being breastfed at six months. With similar laws and accommodations, I’m curious as to why there is such a difference in the percentage of babies being breastfed.

Doing research on breastfeeding and all the ways that it can benefit the baby will help me with my family life and hopefully I will be able to breastfeed longer if we have a second child. I know the importance and have experienced it already so hopefully it will come a little easier for me. In the workplace, I will push for a place to pump upon return. I have not met anyone in my specific school who has been able to pump at work and this is quite unacceptable. Although my principal is great, I did not feel comfortable approaching him about pumping at work and I now have information to back up my needs in the future. As educators working with young children, we would think that this would be more of a priority but for some reason breastfeeding just gets pushed aside for many of us and that truly is an unfortunate thing.

References

Center for Disease Control. (2014). Breastfeeding report card. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/pdf/2014breastfeedingreportcard.pdf

Australian Government Department of Health. (2014). Breastfeeding. Retrieved from http://www.health.gov.au/breastfeeding

Australian Breastfeeding Association. (2014). Breastfeeding in public: Your legal rights. Retrieved from https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bf-info/breastfeeding-and-law/legalright

Childbirth

I woke early in the morning two days before my due date and whispered to my husband “I think my water broke!” He was exhausted after only sleeping for about three hours and could not understand how I was so calm. The calm quickly turned into excitement as we headed to the hospital. Although my water broke, my little girl was so snug inside that she did not yet want to come out! We spent a couple of hours walking around the labor and delivery wing to help with the process but it did not seem to help at all. I was then given Pitocin to help produce contractions and hopefully speed up my labor a bit. That machine administering Pitocin was my worst enemy and I even growled at it during a particularly intense and extremely long contraction. The Pitocin finally did its job and I was offered the epidural but I chose instead to try a different type of drug called Stadol which helped ease the pain and I was able to get some rest (though my husband later told me about the off-the-wall things I said during this time). When the contractions were unbearable, I finally asked for the epidural. After three more hours, about half of that pushing, I finally gave birth to my sweet baby girl on Memorial Day of 2016.

As this is my one and only experience with childbirth, I was the youngest of five children and my mom could not tell me much about my own birth except that her friend talked her into not having the epidural (she had it for my four siblings) and it was a big mistake, the birth of my daughter is recent and I can truly say that it was an experience! My husband was fantastic throughout my whole pregnancy but really stepped up his game to make sure I stayed comfortable and calm throughout labor and delivery. This was a new experience for the both of us but staying calm can impact the baby before, during, and after birth.

In the Netherlands, expect to use a midwife as opposed to a doctor throughout pregnancy which is completely opposite from the United States. In the Netherlands, unless there is a medical complication, most women give birth in their own homes. Insurance companies may not fully cover a hospital birth unless it is due to a medical reason. Since most women are giving birth at home, that also means that they are not able to access pain relief. In the Netherlands, only about ten percent of women use pain relief during child birth.

I think that it is important to note that midwives are trained extensively for helping women through childbirth. Whether using a doctor or a midwife, making sure that the mother stays healthy throughout the pregnancy is critical. While pain relief is not necessary, it can help with the level of comfort for the mother and reduce her level of stress which may help the baby in the birthing process.