Nutritionist seeks support for working breastfeeding mothers
A nutritionist, Uju Onuorah, has called on stakeholders to support breastfeeding mothers who are going through challenges that make breastfeeding a difficult task for some of them.
She made the call during an event to commemorate the World Breastfeeding Week earmarked annually for August 1-7 across the world.
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The theme for WBW 2023: “Enable breastfeeding, making a difference for working parents’ focuses on creating more awareness of breastfeeding support in workspaces.”
According to Onuorah, some mothers experience challenges during breastfeeding and working mothers may find those challenges to be particularly severe.
She said, “Such challenges include sore nipples that occur during the first few weeks of nursing, where many mothers suffer pain or irritation on their nipples, and low milk supply and engorgement, a situation where there is surplus milk in the breasts.
“Also, there could be mastitis, a breast infection that can result in flu-like symptoms, breast soreness, plugged ducts and breastfeeding in public. Some mothers may feel uncomfortable breastfeeding in public due to societal norms or lack of privacy,” she said.
According to Onuorah, working breastfeeding mothers could also experience time constraints, which might be challenging for them to find time to breastfeed or pump breast milk while at work, particularly if there are few breaks or tight work schedules.
She said they can also face challenges in terms of storage and transportation of breast milk, and lack of privacy because it is possible that many companies do not offer nursing mothers a cosy, private area in which to pump milk, this could cause discomfort and a lack of privacy.
She said it also a call for family-friendly policies to be put in place, breastfeeding-friendly surroundings to be established, and the benefits of breastfeeding at work to be made more known.
“Some of the ways we can support working breastfeeding mothers is to show empathy, create a breastfeeding-friendly workplace and offer flexibility by providing flexible work hours or breaks to accommodate their pumping needs,” she added.
Onuorah, however, said that in spite of the difficulties, working breastfeeding mothers can overcome them and keep giving their infants the best care possible if they get support from their employers, co-workers and families.
She added that implementing family-friendly policies and creating breastfeeding-friendly work environments could significantly ease these challenges and support working mothers in their breastfeeding journey.
Onuorah reiterated the immense benefits of breastfeeding to both mother and child, noting that it is important that babies receive the best nourishment from breast milk, as it has the perfect ratio of easily digestible and readily available nutrients, and also provides optimal nutrition for babies.
She said, “Antibodies found in breast milk will help to shield infants from a variety of ailments and disorders, including asthma, obesity, type one diabetes and sudden infant death syndrome.
“Infants who are breastfed are less likely to get respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases.”
“The nutritionist said breastfeeding encourages healthy weight gain and helps to prevent childhood obesity.
“Also, it helps with cognitive development for children and studies have shown that exclusively breastfed babies tend to have higher Intelligent Quotient than non-exclusively breastfed babies,” she added.
Onuorah revealed that exclusively breastfed infants are less likely to get Pre-term Necrotising Enterocolitis, vomiting and diarrhoea.
“They have a lower risk of developing chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and they often have healthy immune systems that help them resist infections and diseases.”
For the mothers, exclusive breastfeeding helps them recover from childbirth more swiftly and easily.
According to her, breastfeeding causes the release of hormones that aid in the uterus returning to its pre-pregnancy size and may lessen postpartum uterine haemorrhage.
Breastfeeding may also help with postpartum weight loss. Mothers shed pregnancy weight more quickly by breastfeeding since it burns extra calories.
“Breastfeeding is a special and distinctive method for mothers to feel connected to their babies as it helps to increase both physical and emotional bonding between a mother and her baby,” she added.
