Juggling between work & breastfeeding setback for women in informal sector The oft-cited solution to breastfeeding while working-expressed breastmilkwasn't an option for working mothers as there are significant cultural barriers against pumping and expressing milk
Kavita, a 24-year-old home-based worker, makes toran (decorative wall hangings) for a living. She lives in a north Delhi settlement, working eight hours a day for a daily profit of Rs 30-50.A tall, streetwise, and seemingly nervous woman, Kavita had to give up a housekeeping job that paid her more than twice her current income because of her childcare responsibilities. She is the primary caregiver for her four-year-old child and a three-month-old infant and also the primary earner in her household. Her husband, a rickshaw driver, hasn’t held a steady job in months, forcing Kavita to juggle responsibilities.
Kavita’s precarious working conditions limit her ability to exclusively breastfeed her infant for six months. Mother’s milk is an important factor in ensuring good health and nutrition among the poorest in a country with a third of the world’s undernourished children under the age of five, according to the Global Nutrition Report 2017.We asked Kavita if she believed three months of exclusive breastfeeding was enough for her infant. “I managed to do it for three months but I will not be able to do it for six months as one must,” she said. “I have to step out to get a job that pays well and it is unthinkable for me to take my three-month-old child to work with me.” Kavita’s dilemma is shared by a majority of working mothers in India–they are unable to exclusively breastfeed their infants though they understand its importance, concluded an exploratory research study conducted by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bengaluru. The study surveyed 120 working mothers across three informal professions–domestic workers, street vendors, and home-based workers–through in-depth interviews and group discussions. In India, 81 per cent to 86 per cent of working women are engaged in non-agricultural informal jobs, much like the mothers in this study. They lack maternity protection schemes and paid breaks during work to express and store milk, which can safeguard mothers’ and babies’ interests and health.Almost half of the working mothers who participated in our study (47 per cent) returned to work within three months of giving birth, and another 21 per cent would return over the following three months. Of the respondents, 27 per cent could continue to breastfeed exclusively during working hours, while 35 per cent resorted to packaged/powder milk, and 44 per cent fed their infants other fluids as well.
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