How to balance career and breastfeeding

All things being equal, breastfeeding must be a full time job. Mothers nursing children, especially those not more than six months-old are supposed to be stay-home-mothers or carry their children wherever they go. Unfortunately for babies, careers have taken over and babies have to be left behind. Suddenly, most women are trying to correct the past by, among others, going back to school to upgrade and develop themselves. Ironically, breastfeeding mothers will work tooth and nail to source money for formula when they can just breastfeed for free.

Then comes the issue of status quo where breastfeeding will work for days away from their babies to strengthen the financial muscle so that when they grow up they can be among the few children going to best school while denying the children a nutritious beginning which is vital for brain development. Dr Sears through askdrsears.com stresses the need to breast feed, saying children who are breastfed get higher grades in school, even after other influences on school performance are taken into account.

According to Dr Sears So, if you want to raise the intelligence level of an entire generation of children, breastfeeding would be a simple and cost-effective way to do it.

Nutritionist Eunice Nyirenda highlights different risks career women expose their babies to as they fetch for advancement in their careers.

“Career women who are primary caregivers to babies excuse themselves from their noble task entrusting the responsibility to house helps who are secondary caregiver’s thereby exposing infants to different health risks. These include introduction of complementary feeding before the children are ready for it.”

“The women do not even care to draw and monitor proper feeding timetables for children again leaving the duty to nannies whose education levels are also questionable. As a result many children are underfed which results in increased cased of malnutrition in children,” Nyirenda said.

Nyirenda however encouraged career breast feeding women to follow expressive breastfeeding -EBF methods to avoid malnutrition among children.

“Some secondary care givers literally drink the formula left for children once the children refuse to drink at given times so career women must express their breast milk, that way they are assured no sane nanny can drink it.”

There are a number of things to be taken into account when women decide to express milk. First and foremost, breastmilk is fresh milk and has to be treated as such to avoid diarrhoea in babies. According to Babycentre.com women have to first establish a routine of expressing and storing breast milk. This will keep your milk supply up, and your baby can continue to get the benefits of your milk, even when you’re not with them.

Storing breast milk depends on how soon one wants to use it. If the milk will be used within a few days, refrigerating is better than freezing. Freezing destroys some of the substances in your milk that fight infection. However, frozen breast milk is still a healthier choice for your baby than formula, according to babycentre.com.

You can add freshly expressed milk to breast milk that’s already in the fridge, provided it has been expressed on the same day. Bear in mind, though, that you can only keep it until the original milk is five days old.

If your milk has been stored for some time, it separates. This is normal, so just give it a gentle shake to mix it up again. Some babies will happily drink cold milk straight from the fridge, while others like it warmed up. You can warm the milk by placing the sealed bottle in a bowl of warm water. Don’t be tempted to defrost or warm your breastmilk in a microwave. If you need the milk in a hurry, defrost it under cool, then warm, running water, or place it in a bowl of warm water. Dry the outside of the container before you open it and use it straight away. n