Ashley's Story of Work and Breastfeeding
Our story this week comes from Ashley. Ashley is a working mom who found the best balance after much researching of how to manage feeding her son while juggling the busy schedule at her job.
My breastfeeding journey was a little unusual in the way that it began. I initially didn't want to breastfeed. I thought it would "inhibit me from living my life" and that "working moms don't have time for that..." Well boy was I right! But also was it so worth every precious minute to feel that connection with and nourish my baby boy.
A lot of women spend time thinking about and hoping for the experience of breastfeeding their child one day. I wasn't that woman. I spent time thinking about how I could have a family and a career. Breastfeeding didn't fit into that vision. I like to research and enjoyed researching everything I could during my pregnancy in order to find the recipe to give my son the best life possible. That research led me to the significant benefits of breastfeeding; from emotional connection to health gains. I became curious and eventually decided I would give it a go, focusing on a goal of 2 months of breastfeeding then a switch to formula when I went back to work. My job is different than most, I work as a Speech-Language Pathologist at a rehabilitation facility. Working in a medical setting I can't afford multiple "breaks" from my patients, especially with a set productivity standard. So I set my goal and began my journey, naively believing that time management would be my only barrier when it came to breastfeeding.
My son was born and our journey started out as I've heard most do; realizing the pain, the mental strain, and the insane time commitment, though I also fell in love with nurturing my son. I raised my goal, I wanted to go as long as I could possibly for both my son and myself. I wanted to prove that I could be both a working mom and provide what I felt and knew to be best for my son.
I returned to work when my son was 2.5 months and I was sad but also ready. I loved my job and missed my patients. My son started daycare at a facility that my husband, son, and I still love to this day. The daycare offered to make a place for me to come feed my son during the day but with my extensive work schedule and the distance to my job, this wasn't functional. After vast online research, I learned that I could wean my son off of two specific feedings a day and that my body would adjust to not produce milk for those feedings. I feel that a significant problem with our society is that women are not given all available options when it comes to feeding their children (and parenting in general).
I gave up 2 daytime feedings and pumped in the middle of my shift, allowing me to BF my son 5-6/8 feedings a day and supplement with formula for the other 2-3. Initially, I expressed to my husband that I truly felt like a failure. "I should be able to do it all! BF my son and work 40+ hours a week; that's what [insert name of mom on social media] does and she makes it look easy!" Y'all, if you take nothing else away from my story, I hope it's this: you should not compare your journey to any other. It only causes pain and guilt, because you can never truly be inside a person's singular experience and each one is so unique. Do the research, ask the questions, but know that only YOU truly know what is right for you and your babies. That being said, I BF and supplemented with my son until he was 6 months and my BF journey ended by my choice, on my terms, just as they all should.
What do you think about Ashley’s story? We love how she is confident in her choices, though they may not always be easy. Thanks for sharing Ashley!
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