Some of you may have seen the recent New York Times article on the different experiences of women trying to combine breastfeeding and work outside the home.
The article profiled the experience of women who work for Starbucks. Women who work at the company's coporate office have access to a lactation room complete with recliners and curtains, as well as company-provided breastpumps. They can take breaks during the day to pump. Women who work at Starbucks cafes have no place to pump but the customers' restrooms, and no time to pump but their short breaks. The article concludes:
For those with autonomy in their jobs - generally, well-paid professionals - breast-feeding, and the pumping it requires, is a matter of choice. It is usually an inconvenience, and it may be an embarrassing comedy of manners... But for lower income mothers - including many who work in restaurants, factories, call centers and the military - pumping at work is close to impossible, causing many women to decline to breast-feed at all, and others to quit after a short time.
It is particularly literal case of how well-being tends to beget further well-being, and disadvantage tends to create disadvantage - passed down in a mother's milk, or lack thereof.
To me, the worst part of this is that women in lower paying jobs end up spending more of their money on formula and doctor and pharmacy costs, and are more likely to need to take time off to care for sick children. All this in spite of evidence that supporting breastfeeding saves employers money in reduced absenteeism and medical and pharmacy costs.
As a lactation consultant I've worked with many women who struggle to make breastfeeding and working work, and I've certainly met many who reduced breastfeeding or stopped nursing completely (which, with some good planning, often doesn't need to happen) before they wanted to because their workplace couldn't seem to accomodate them.
So, what do you think? Did you (or do you) balance breastfeeding and working outside the home? Was your employer a help or hindrance? What stories and advice do you have?
