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I want to share a little story of a full-time working and breastfeeding mum. I loved her story because it sounded so optimistic and encouraging and I thought that many of you who doubt that working and breastfeeding go together, will be relieved to hear that this is no contradiction at all.
Tanya Baumert does training courses for sales staff. For her job she’s travelling through her country (Switzerland) by public transport daily. In a Facebook group about breastfeeding, she shared the following entry:
Now I am working since january and our son is 5,5 months old actually. Yes, it is exhausting sometimes, and expressing my milk all the time is annoying. But on the other hand, it’s a break I can enjoy on my own and eventually I send a selfie to my husband 😉
But what led me to writing to you, is that I’ve been spending the whole week in the west of Switzerland sleeping in hotels. In the weeks before, I’ve already spent three nights out in total and it worked well. But 4 nights in a row really scared me (this happens like 3-4 times a year). I’ve asked myself how my little boy will react when I’ll be back home and if he’d still want to nurse after drinking my milk out of a bottle for 5 days.
My husband is at home, working one day per week. On this day and the night before, my mother takes care of my baby.
For me, the week was very short because I had a lot to do, made interesting encounters and had discussions and talks that made me think: A childless woman said to me: „oh wow, you’re still nursing! It’s not for sure you’re milk is still rich enough…?“ And then, a 40 years old father of 4 was quietly shocked to hear that our baby is sleeping with us: „stop it asap for god’s sake or he’ll still be in your bed at the age of 5!“ He looked pretty astonished when I answered: „So what?“. I also had a funny encounter with a young and embarassed receptionist at the hotel tho whom I said that the mini bar in my room wasn’t big enough to store my milk after I’ve been pumping for 4 days.
All that distracted me from missing my men, especially my little one and even more when I saw other children.
In situations like this I always think that I’m doing it for my family and I’m feeling better.
The evening I got back from my long trip I’ve been excited but all doubts resolved: my son smiled at me, we cuddled and played and he continued to breastfeed like he hasn’t done anything else.
So, dear pumping and breastfeeding working mum’s: nothing’s impossible! Trust yourself and don’t think about it, it would just steal your energy. Just do it and you’ll see that you’ll be able for more than you’d believe. And that’s exactly what I’ve learnt in this group! :)“
Thank you so much, dear Tanya, for letting me share your story!