CORPORATE UNDERMINING: Setting Up Mothers To Fail by Maria Parlapiano

All this week on themotherhoodblog.com: THE (SORRY) STATE OF BIRTH IN AMERICA

Why so high?
Did you know that New Jersey's average rate for birth by cesarean section is now 38.3%?
And the 2007 national average is 31.8% ?* Why are so many babies being 'born' via major abdominal surgery? Is it making birth safer for mothers or babies? And what does it say about contemporary attitudes towards women and their bodies? This week we present the responses of three local women whose work is dedicated to educating and supporting pregnant and nursing women, plus one writer whose only choice for giving birth — three times — was at home.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15
You're So Brave (I Bet You Think This Birth is About You)
by Helena Holgersson-Shorter

TODAY: THURSDAY, APRIL 16
Corporate Undermining: Setting Up Mothers to Fail
by Maria Parlapiano

FRIDAY, APRIL 17
You Make Me Feel Like a Natural...Cesarean?
by Kim Collins

SATURDAY, APRIL 18
Medicate, Subjugate, Dominate, Operate
by Gayle Lemke

*http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_12.pdf


Corporate Undermining: Setting Up Mothers to Fail
by Maria Parlapiano

So here you are working, working, right up to when you deliver so you can use all your paid maternity leave and all your vacation time for after the baby is born. Sounds like a good plan…after all, that’s when the real work starts, right?

Well, if you were informed of the following, would your decision still be the same? According to a new study published in Women’s Health Issues, women who worked during their last month of pregnancy instead of taking off the month before, have a four time greater risk of having a primary (first-time) c-section. Yet, maybe that wouldn’t change some minds because, after all, if you have a c-section, you get two extra weeks off!

Does this sound familiar? “I’ll go back to work as soon as my paid leave is over (six weeks in NJ) because my company is so supportive, they have on-site child care and a program to help me transition back to work including a lactation specialist…...it should be just fine.”

Again, if you were informed of the following, would your decision still be the same? A recent study found that the length of postpartum leave dictated how successful breastfeeding would be. Women who took less than 6 weeks of maternity leave had a four times greater risk of breastfeeding failure and women who returned to work between 6-12 weeks had a two times greater risk of failure. This falls right into line with what I see in my lactation practice.

It is common knowledge that delivery by c-section and formula feeding are much more costly — surgical costs, extended hospital stays, increased risk of complications — as well as requiring longer recovery times. For babies, formula feeding increases their risk of infections, allergies, asthma, eczema, and obesity (just to name a few). So, it makes better economic sense for employers to promote the full use of maternity leave, including extending pay.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Instead, the corporate focus is on luring the mother back as early as possible, even before her allotted time, by offering an array of services disguised as “pro-family” when, in fact, they are just the opposite.

For instance, one manager states, “Our program allows parents to come back to work earlier while continuing to bond with their children. It also helps to address separation anxiety that many new parents can have.” How can you bond with a child while you’re not there? Aren’t parents supposed to have separation anxiety? What about the baby’s feelings?

One mom was quoted in saying that her corporate program made a huge difference in getting her comfortable with going back to work after her baby was born. "My first week back I was checking on him three or four times a day," she says. "But by the fourth week, maybe I showed up at lunch." This is exactly what employers are shooting for: normalizing family separation to increase company retention and productivity.

This corporate trickery of robbing precious time from families and making it appear “supportive” is unnerving — all for the sake of improving their return-to-work metrics. The real intent being to capture that productive employee back behind that desk before she even knows what happened, making her feel obligated to do so and grateful for the opportunity.

In a culture that places so little real value on mothering, let alone breastfeeding, what are we to do?

All of us need to recognize the corporate agenda for what it really is and stop buying into it. No program (I don’t care how expensive it is) can replace what a mother does for her baby. We need to insist that instead of employers spending money on implementing programs to promote early separation that the money be invested where it makes the most sense…in the form of job-protected extended paid leave. This way, mothers can take ample time off before delivery in order to have restorative energy for the birthing process (reducing the risk of c-section). Also, extend postpartum leave for as long as possible in order to rest/heal, get to know and enjoy her baby and fully establish a lasting breastfeeding relationship.

Maria Parlapiano is the owner of Postpartum Place, formerly the Lactation Resource Center, in Chatham, NJ, an invaluable center for new and nursing mothers for support, equipment and information. Go to www.thepostpartumplace.com, or call TOLL FREE, twenty-fours hours, seven days a week, at 1-800-801-MILK.


Sources:

• http://www.workforce.com/section/02/feature/26/02/24/index
• Women’s health issues, Jan/Feb 2009
• Pediatrics, Jan 2009
• www.childbirthconnection.org
• Elective Cesarean Section: How Informed is Informed? – Zeidenstein
• Joint Policy Statement on Normal Childbirth, JOGC, No 221, Dec 2008

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Resources
We urge women to educate themselves fully about their options for birth, including all the risks associated with cesarean sections, and vaginal birth after cesarean section (VBAC):

Childbirth Connection: http://www.childbirthconnection.org
A source for up-to-date, evidence-based information and resources on planning for pregnancy, labor and birth, and the postpartum period. Founded in 1918, Childbirth Connection is a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of maternity care.

VBAC.com: http://www.vbac.com
A woman-centered, evidence based, website providing childbearing women and maternity care professionals access to research-based information, resources, continuing education and support for VBAC* (vaginal birth after cesarean).

International Cesarean Awareness Network: http://www.ican-online.org
The International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc. (ICAN) is a nonprofit organization that was founded by Esther Booth Zorn in 1982. ICAN’s mission is to prevent unnecessary cesareans through education, to provide support for cesarean recovery, and to promote VBAC. Information about local ICAN chapters can be found on the website.

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