Fear of 'sagging' making Gen Z mothers shun breastfeeding

It is the first week of August when World Breastfeeding Week is marked anually. 

According to the World Health Organization WHO, infants should be exclusively breastfed for at least the first six months as it provides all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs.

This year’s theme is: “Let’s make breastfeeding work at, work” with an emphasis on greater breastfeeding support across all work places to improve progress in breastfeeding

globally. 

Research conducted by WHO shows many mothers fail to breastfeed their

children as recommended due to work demands and policies. 

WHO emphasizes on the need for companies to allocate rooms for women to express milk and or breastfeed their babies within the workplace.

“We are given ninety working days as maternity leave. It means the baby will be barely three

months old and I have to leave him/her under someone’s care. It means I won’t have the privilege to breastfeed my baby effectively. Work is important as well because this baby must eat,” Mitchell Auma, a mother of two shared her experience. 

Many working mothers have to make do with expressing milk for their babies, which they leave with caregivers to feed their babies.

While the breast pump is a tool for many working mothers who don’t have the option of directly breastfeeding their children, there are some who use it for other reasons.

Meet Alice* (not her real name) who said she has been forced to pump for other reasons.

 “I got pregnant during my second year at university and it was not easy. I was 20 years old

then. As a young lady, I was afraid of some body changes after delivery and that’s when my

boyfriend advised me not to breastfeed the baby directly to avoid ‘breast sag’. Ever since,

I have been expressing breast milk for my baby. He has never touched my breast,” she said.

She shared her ways of bonding with the baby without direct touch through breastfeeding.

“From day one, I have been putting him near my breasts while sleeping. And it is working.

He knows that I am the mother. It was my boyfriend’s idea but it is our decision,” she said.

According to Dr. Milton Nashon, breastfeeding is very important. Breast milk is a complete food and has all the requirements a baby needs for development and is a major way of bonding between the mother and the baby. 

“We recommend breastfeeding because it is not contaminated in any way and the baby receive it under normal and required temperature. It is a major way of bonding between the mother and the baby. Great attachment is created when the baby suckles”

Milton added: “It is okay for a mother to do express breast milk if it is the only option but breastfeeding is the best. Pumped milk might get infected during storage.Mothers should breastfeed their babies for at least six months.”