When her baby girl was born on March 14, Memory Mgode, from Mzuzu City counted every day of her three-month maternity leave like a jailbird.
July 1, the day to return to work, came too soon.
“It was unbearable,” she recalls. “I handed my baby to a maid and each step away broke my heart.”
Even at work, her mind stayed at home.
“My concentration was gone. I rushed back at knock-off to feed her.”
The health surveillance assistant teaches mothers the benefits of six months of exclusive breastfeeding, but she quit just three months to return to work.
“I had no choice,” she says. “The baby refused formula milk, wept and was haunted by diarrhea because I stopped breastfeeding too early.”
For many working mothers, Mgode’s story is familiar.
The Ministry of Health says every child deserves six months of exclusive breastfeeding, as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.
Yet Section 47 of the Employment Act entitles women to at least eight weeks of maternity leave on full pay every three years.
In 2000, the eight-week clause was hailed as progress. two decades later, it is a barrier disguised as protection.
“At least” implies flexibility, but most employers, including government, sticks to the minimum three months. A few firms stretch to four or more.
Amended in 2021, Section 46A requires employers to redeploy pregnant or nursing mothers to lighter duties, permit shorter working hours without pay cuts and grant at least two half-hour breastfeeding breaks daily for six months after childbirth.
Employers must also provide a private, safe space for breastfeeding.
Labour commissioner Hlalerwayo Nyangulu says employers who deny lactation breaks, but fail to offer a safe space for breastfeeding at workplace are violating the law.
However, enforcement is weak and many women return to rigid schedules within three months even though says longer leave poses financial challenges for employers.
Some employers urged women to pump and store breast milk in fridges, but that convenience belongs to the few and stored milk often depends on maids with little training in hygiene.
When the bottle replaces the breast, the mother-to-child bond wanes.
However, nutritionists say the cost of inaction is far greater. WHO estimates exclusive breastfeeding could prevent one in eight infant deaths each year. It estimates that poor infant nutrition further drains up to 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product every year through illness, stunted growth and lost productivity.
Breastmilk, by contrast, remains one of the cheapest life-saving measures known.
The 2024 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey shows only six in 10 infants under six months are exclusively breastfed. The rest are fed porridge, tea or formula out of ignorance but necessity.
“We’re told to do what’s best for our children,” says Mgode. “But we are not given time to do it.”
Banker Mercy Kapinda, 30, has faced a similar predicament since she gave birth on August 18. Her three-month leave ends November 18.
She narrates: “I’m already stressed about who will care for my baby. Finding a trustworthy maid these days isn’t easy.
“My baby is used to breast milk, but I’m training him to take formula for a full day every two days, because I won’t have a choice once I return to work.
This mirrors the health and psychological weight labour labour laws ignore.
St John of God Hospitaller Services clinical psychologist Frank Magagula says the first six months teach a child to trust the mother and the world. Forcing that bond to break too soon can leave mothers battling guilt, anxiety and even depression.
“I recall one mother whose nanny quit days before she was to resume work. She had to hire a stranger overnight. She felt like a bad mother. Such stress, if unsupported, can lead to postpartum depression.”
Magagula adds that the ‘abandoned babies’ grow up either clingy or withdrawn.
“Those invisible scars from insecure attachment follow them into adulthood, marriages, workplaces and every place trust should live,” he states.
Public health nutritionist Imran Kachingwe says infants who are not exclusively breastfed are more prone to malnutrition, pneumonia and asthma, diarrhoea, ear infections and weakened immunity.
“Formula or early foods lack the nutrient balance of breast milk. They can leave nutritional gaps and increase the risk of allergies,” he says.
Malawi Health Equity Network executive director George Jobe says the eight-week minimum maternity leave in the Employment Act is outdated and inadequate as the publichealth and social realities have evolved.
He proposes a phased approach: “A clear twelve-week standard as a start, while strengthening enforcement of lactation breaks and flexible work. The long-term goal remains six months of leave, but gradual progress is more practical.”
Women Lawyers Association executive director Golda Rapozo says Section 47 of the employment Act was written to secure jobs and not safeguard motherhood.
The law forces women to choose between earning a living and raising a healthy child.
“Even the provision for two breastfeeding breaks a day is difficult to enforce,” she notes.
However, Rapozo argues that the six-month exclusive breastfeeding policy is not binding because it is not law.
She argues: “Public institutions can be compelled through litigation, but private employers who stick to the bare minimum of eight weeks are still within the law.
“On paper, employers comply. In practice, mothers and children pay the price. It is time to close the gap.
The right to breastfeed should not depend on an employer’s goodwill. We need to turn this health policy into binding law and realign the system so that no woman must choose between her baby and her job.”
Northern Region labour officer Kalani Malema says the concerns deserves national attention.
