Almost as soon as they are born, babies need to eat. You don’t need to be an expert on nutrition to know that the best food for a newborn human is mother’s milk.
The scientific research base is growing that indicates life-long health benefits from exclusive breastfeeding in the first
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The World Health Organization estimates that 1.5 million infants die around the world every year because they are not breastfed. Research suggests that breastfed babies are less likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome; have lower rates of illness, such as ear infection and stomach problems; and have lower rates of serious illnesses, such as type 1 diabetes, leukemia and Crohn’s disease.
Despite the mountain of evidence showing the beneficial effects, breastfeeding rates in the United States remain low, particularly for working mothers. Breastfeeding is more than a method of feeding a baby; it requires a high degree of involvement from the mother.
Unless a mother regularly nurses or expresses her milk, her body will gradually stop producing milk. So, when a nursing mother goes back to work, she needs to take several daily breaks either to feed the baby or to pump and save her milk.
For working women in the United States who hold “professional” or executive jobs, some progress has been made. About one-third of large corporations provide benefits such as “lactation rooms,” where women can go and pump milk.
Some women have enough privacy and autonomy to pump in their work space. These mothers then can refrigerate the milk and bring it home for the baby. Such job benefits are a result of the movement for women’s equality.
Benefits distributed on a class basis
It’s a different story for women working in the service industry or factory jobs. “Breast milk is supposed to be the best milk, I read it constantly when I was pregnant,” said Brittany Moore. Moore works at a Starbucks in Manhattan and feeds her nine-month-old daughter formula. “I felt bad, I want the best for my child,” she said. “None of the moms here that I know actually breast-feed.”
“I feel like I had to choose between feeding my baby the best food and earning a living,” said Jennifer Munoz, a former cashier at Resorts Atlantic City Casino. She faced barriers that included irregular breaks and a refrigerator behind a locked door. Just to maintain her milk supply, Ms. Munoz would pump and then dump her milk into the toilet because she couldn’t refrigerate it at work.
Other nursing mothers experience sexual harassment in return for their efforts to provide the best nutrition for their babies. As a result, many working-class women give up on breastfeeding after returning to work, or never even start.
Another obstacle is the predatory practices of formula companies. Providing free samples to the families of newborns can interfere with the nursing process and result in decreased or the complete cessation of the mother’s milk production.
Once a woman’s body has stopped producing milk, she is totally dependent on formula to meet the baby’s nutritional needs. For women who cannot afford to buy enough formula, or who don’t have access to hot water to sterilize bottles, formula use creates additional health problems. The struggle against these practices has led to the lengthy Nestle boycott, targeting one of the largest infant milk companies for its marketing practices.
Infants’ nutritional needs are universal. But in a capitalist society, even breastfeeding is political. There are no legal protections for nursing mothers in the United States. While 12 individual states have laws on the books, the language is mostly symbolic.
In socialist Cuba, on the other hand, the rights of nursing mothers are protected by the constitution. “The state looks after women’s health as well as that of their offspring, giving working women paid maternity leave before and after giving birth and temporary work options compatible with their maternal activities.”
Under capitalism, bosses don’t care if workers are unable to provide their babies with life-long health benefits—all they care about is maintaining the flow of profits.
