What’s 1,800 hours?

Guest Contributor: Rachel Weisberg

A couple of weeks back, Rich shared his new perspective on the miracle of breastfeeding. Here's mine. - Rachel

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They say that breastfeeding for the first 12 months of a baby’s life (which is the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation), is the equivalent of 1,800 hours of work.

That means that a lactating mother, whether she’s a stay at home mom or a working mom is putting in what equates to 35ish hours of work per week for 52 weeks. That’s a full-time job just in breastfeeding.

Bonkers! (Incidentally, this time calculation doesn’t include the time it takes to wash and prepare pump parts, or prepping bottles, which honestly is another job in and of itself. Exclusive pumpers and working moms: props to you!)

My one and only child, Maayan, was born at 10:35 PM on Monday, March 16, 2020. You might remember that date for other reasons. The WHO, who will appear later in this post, had just defined COVID-19 as a global pandemic a few short days prior, and the 16th was essentially the first day that the US shut down for three weeks (or ... a year+).

So of course my kid decided to arrive!

Like most earnest and excited new parents, my husband and I dutifully attended all of the prenatal classes recommended by my OB, aside from the lactation class.?

Of course that’s the class I missed!

BUT I was committed to breastfeeding, so when I was introduced to my small and noisy wrinkled raisin of a precious daughter, I immediately brought her to my breast (as my delivery nurse showed me) AND she latched! She smelled like heaven and I felt that initial overwhelming surge of oxytocin that comes with being with a human who grew inside my body for 39 weeks.?

The weird and bizarre and mildly perplexing thing about birthing babies is the time between birth and really making milk isn’t a smooth transition. For the first couple of days post-birth, the baby exists on colostrum (which is an incredibly rich and highly nutritious early form of milk). The baby can nurse, but since it’s new to both of you, most moms express the milk and give it to their babies via their fingertips. Not exactly efficient. Also very weird.

My milk came in on day three. At that point, my very small breasts were FULL of milk, borderline overflowing with milk, and we weren't really getting it.

My breasts ached, my nippled cracked and bled. I cried, she cried.

We endured these typical initial challenges of breastfeeding (I cannot overstate how helpful it is to consult with an IBCLC post-birth - mine was an angel!) but by about week six we were humming along. And by humming along, I mean that my daughter was at my breast whenever she was hungry (which was literally all day and all night) as I fed on demand.

We bedshared, which, while frowned upon by many, was a game-changer for our family. We followed the Safe Sleep 7 and everybody slept more (albeit in disconnected chunks) during that time.?

Now, I am painting this experience as wildly unpleasant and grueling, but that’s not it at all.?

Breastfeeding my child was a magical, beautiful, mind-altering experience. I felt deeply connected to her and she to me. My child (perhaps my only) subsisted for a full year, just on the rich, nutritious elixir that MY BODY CREATED FROM WHAT I CONSUMED. That’s truly amazing!?

The feeling of looking down at this child, who is looking adoringly back up, simply cannot be compared.?

Like most new breastfeeding mothers, I was anxious about feeding my baby in public, but at a certain point I thought “(Expletive)-it! My child needs to eat” and did what women have been doing on this planet for millennia: I fed my baby.?

Breastfeeding had the added benefit of strengthening her immune system (did you know that the composition of breast milk ADJUSTS to the baby over time and from day to day depending on things she's been exposed to? AMAZING!) Breastmilk regulates based on demand, so while I was way overproducing for the first couple of months, Maayan and I soon found a rhythm and I made what she needed.??

I was home with Maayan for her first 2.5 years so we had no need for bottles. By the time she went to daycare full-time, we were down to breastfeeding only when we were together (it's amazing how my body produced just what she needed during those times!)

The WHO recommends that small children breastfeed for at least 2 years (and beyond!)?

Interesting that the global health organization extends that recommendation past what the AAP recommends. I certainly got a fair number of questions about when I would stop breastfeeding Maayan, to which I always replied “When she’s ready.”?

Were there days (or nights?) when I was “touched out” and didn’t want her anywhere near me? Yes there were.

But as Maayan grew older, my breast was her safe place and a way she could regulate her still developing nervous system. The number of tantrums I salved in 25 seconds was MANY. To be honest, WE co-regulated with her snuggled up against me, that still-delicious aroma of her filling my heart with a joy that really cannot be paralleled.

The benefits of extended breastfeeding are for both mother and babe.?

For the child:

• Increased IQ
• Reduced risk of type 2 diabetes
• Reduced risk of obesity / weight control
• Aforementioned emotional regulation

For the mother:

• Reduced risk of breast cancer (this, unfortunately, may be untrue)
• Reduced risk of ovarian cancer
• Weight control?

I fully weaned Maayan on June 13, 2024 because my OB insisted I finally get a mammogram. That's 4 years and almost 3 months of breastfeeding

Assuming I wasn’t working “full-time” on breastfeeding for the latter 2 years, we’ll call it roughly 5,400 hours of breastfeeding.

So what’s 1,800 hours really? (I loved every minute).

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