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There's no free lunch, even for babies
Breastfeeding comes with a cost in recessionary times
By Ruth Mantell, MarketWatch
Last Update: 12:01 AM ET Nov 10, 2009
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- My world has been reduced to poop and boobs.
I was once a reporter in a small pool of correspondents who broke national economic news. Now I report to my husband each night about the day's events: whether our 9-week-old, Eve, had a significant bowel movement, and how much she breastfed.
I'm a real gas at parties now. Here's a snippet from a Halloween party conversation:
Normal Person: So, do you think health-care reform will pass this year?
New Mom/Shut-In (a.k.a. me): I haven't really been following the news. Eve's been sucking on my boobs all day.
Normal person: Wow. You just won the conversation.
Why the fuss over breastfeeding? Breast milk passes along mom's valuable antibodies to baby, protecting the infant from sickness.
Yet breastfeeding is not an easy feat to accomplish in today's work world. Despite my frequent complaints (whining is my manna), I'm fortunate to be able to breastfeed at all. My incredibly supportive editor lets me work from home, enabling me to nurse Eve during six months of a quasi-maternity leave. (I supplement with formula in the evenings if Eve has tapped me out.)
But not all new mothers have such a plum gig, and I worry about how the recession is affecting breastfeeding among financially stressed families with babies. With men losing the lion's share of jobs, the economic downturn has been dubbed a "he-cession," and new moms may feel compelled to work longer hours or return to work and wean their babies.
Pat Shelly, director and founder of The Breastfeeding Center for Greater Washington, told me last week that the recession is making it tougher for woman workers to pump breast milk, also known as "expressing."
"Our women will come to me and say: 'They are laying off people, so I am that much busier and I can't take a break to pump,'" Shelly said. "Or they'll say 'I've got to work longer because we don't have as many employees. My work hours are so long and I just feel guilty when I go off to pump.'"
Employers win when moms breastfeed babies
Whether due to misguided prudery or a lack of interest on the part of corporate managers, some American workplaces haven't gotten the message about the importance of supporting working moms who breastfeed.
"Although worksite support for breastfeeding has improved, much more can be done to ensure that employers understand how and why support for their breastfeeding employees is profitable, important, and feasible," wrote Dr. Steven Galson, acting surgeon general at the time, in a public-health report earlier this year.
Support from employers is crucial, as a mother will have to pump while on the job unless her shift is short. Women need to pump or nurse regularly to prevent their milk supply from dwindling.
The American Academy of Family Physicians notes on its Web site at least two benefits for employers that support breastfeeding: First, women who believe their employers have a positive attitude towards breastfeeding may be less torn between their children and loyalty to the employer, leading to greater work productivity. And second, breastfeeding mothers miss less work because breastfed babies tend to be healthier.
The news for breastfeeding during the recession is not completely dire, Shelly said. Laid-off husbands are pitching in by bringing babies to their wives' workplaces for nursing sessions, she said.
No such thing as a free lunch
Especially during the recession, a great thing about breastfeeding is that it's free...sort of. In reality, there are no free lunches, even for the tiniest babies.
First, there are wardrobe requirements. For the mom who wants to breastfeed in public (I've done it on Amtrak) specialized shirts and bras allow her to nurse the baby without stripping down. For the cost-conscious, a button-down shirt provides good coverage, especially when coupled with a strategically draped blanket.
But the costs don't end there. Breastfeeding hurts. A lot. At least for me. As it turns out, having someone suck sensitive tissue throughout the day can be uncomfortable for mom. Who knew? Sorry to scare any new or soon-to-be mothers out there. But the truth is that nursing is tough, and while the experience generally improves with time, some moms will seek professional help.
There are free breastfeeding support groups and classes. And then there's the not-so-free equipment: nipple shields, hand-operated and electric pumps, and various ointments, teas and supplements. You can also hire a personal breastfeeding trainer to provide instruction in the privacy of your home. You can hire a doula. A doctor may even need to be consulted for the baby with a short frenulum -- the membrane attaching the tongue to the floor of the mouth -- that makes it difficult for the infant to properly latch on to the nipple and causes pain for the mother.
And there are non-financial opportunity costs. Moms who nurse their babies frequently lament being tied to the house. Young babies can feed every hour or two, allowing only a slim window to make it to the supermarket, take a shower, walk the dog. Some days it's wonderful to snuggle up with the baby, snoozing and eating and reading and watching TV. And you know what? Some days it's not. Some days it would be really nice to leave the house for -- gasp! -- four whole hours. While a can of premium formula comes with a premium price tag, feeding infants with formula uses less of one of mom's most precious resources: time.
It may be the very real financial costs, as well as the opportunity costs, that make it tough for some groups of women to breastfeed. According to Galson's report, "unacceptable racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in breastfeeding persist."
While it may appear that the cost of formula would force poorer families to breastfeed, Galson said that children in low-income families are less likely to be breastfed than those in middle- and upper-income families. Though nutritionally sound, it seems as though formula, once considered to be the scientifically engineered perfect food for babies, is like fast food for infants, consumed in part by families without the time and resources to breastfeed.
Even as the recession winds down, the labor market remains under pressure, meaning that working moms continue to face tough choices about feeding their families. Here's one thing I've learned during my two-month stint as a mother of a recession baby: Don't let anyone guilt you, or tell you that you're not doing a good enough job when it comes to deciding whether to breastfeed. The first weeks are all about survival, both for you and the baby. Whatever price you pay, whether for nursing or using formula, it's worth it for a healthy and happy little one.
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