Birth & Baby Ep. 24 - Exclusive breastfeeding and the working mother, can it be done?

Welcome and thank you for listening!

One of the biggest threads for exclusive breastfeeding up till six months, is the fact that women need to go back to work. In this episode Dr Margreet Wibbelink talks with Refilwe Nompumelelo Maponya, Midwife Specialist, researcher and working mother, around breastfeeding as a working mom (and midwife).

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing Science which she completed at North West University Potchefstroom campus in 2014 and Masters Degree in Advanced Midwife and Neonatal nursing from University of Johannesburg which she received Cum laude in 2020 respectively.

Her clinical nursing and Midwifery career spans from over seven years from Professional nurse General to Advanced Midwifery Specialist with both private and public midwifery care experience.

Her research niche and interest is Breastfeeding which she investigated and captured the findings in her Mini Dissertation entitled ‘Working mothers experience of adhering to exclusive breastfeeding in the Rustenburg district, North West. Her research was motivated by her observation that in the 21st century, the work environment and its structures were still unfavourable for the breastfeeding employee.

Being a new mother herself, she gained firsthand experience of challenges of juggling both work and breastfeeding, which further motivated her decision to become a breast milk donor at Job Shimankana Tabane hospital in Rustenburg.

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