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