Okay, so hereâs the situation: the majority of women can physiologically breastfeed but we make it so cumbersome, so stressful, so EXPENSIVE to breastfeed in America that lactating parents living in poverty literally cannot afford to give their babies the free food that comes out of their body.
25% of humans in America who give birth return to work within TWO WEEKS of the birth of their child. Do you know what two weeks postpartum looks like? It looks like youâre fucking exhausted, you baby isnât sleeping, youâre still sitzing your vulva because GOD FORBID SOMETHING TOUCH IT, youâre probably still continuously bleeding (lochia), and itâs a good day if you managed to shower OR wear pants.
When youâre forced back to work, your boss may be required to allow you adequate time to express milk for your newborn youâre paying $1800 each month to put in daycare (really, thatâs how much it costs where I live). Not all employers are required to do this, but weâll assume yours is required and compliant for the sake of this exercise.
The problem with these breaks is that theyâre unpaid. Pumping takes time, anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes and you need to do it at least every 2-3 hours to maintain your milk supply. Every minute youâre expressing milk for the child you shouldnât have to be away from, youâre calculating how late youâll have to stay to make up the hours, adding time to your (already astronomical) daycare costs.
The longer youâre doing this, the more stress youâre feeling about the situation. Unfortunately, the hormones you produce when you experience stress suppress the hormones your body needs for your milk to âlet downâ and flow into your pump to feed your baby tomorrow.
As time goes on, you find you canât afford to express milk as often as your body needs to maintain your supply. Youâre frustrated and tired and formula is expensive, so you rely on WIC to help you.
Now, the federal government COULD have provided you with a national parental leave system that would have allowed you stay home. It could have provided you with a lactation specialist to help you breastfeed. It did neither of those things because the federal government doesnât actually care if you and your baby are feeding in the way you would choose. Instead, theyâll give you enough vouchers to pay for some of the (really, truly) very expensive formula that is now the only option readily available to you and the nutritional option ranked lowest by the WHO for infant feeding.
But, now, the programâWICâthat is supposed to pay for your babyâs formula is being cut. WIC would help feed your child until their 5th birthday, but the same federal government that threw you under the bus while you were pregnant, refused to allow a national parental leave system, and wouldnât pay for a lactation counsellor is now cutting your basic nutrition assistance too.
Cutting WIC is a huge fucking deal and is part of a larger, more sinister plot to not give a single fuck about families living in poverty.
pixelskylines
amandla
