Working After Childbirth Essay

The second most important disadvantage of going back to work right after birth is the health of the mother. Women that leave the labour department and are able to engage in hard physical work the next day, are only seen in movies. In reality, even childbirth with no complications is exhausting. It is a long and wearing process that can cause injury and may include suture. Even more so in cases of Cesarean section - a full scale abdominal surgery, where full recovery takes time. New mothers who are forced to return to work almost immediately after birth risk their physical health, as pregnancy and delivery reduce immunity and have very high risk of catching an infection. Sleep deprivation, bleeding, a completely new reality - the role of a mother, all impact the mother's condition. Mental health is also in jeopardy - the chances of developing postpartum depression increases several times if the mother is separated from her child. "Study showed that women who return to work sooner than six months after childbirth have an increased risk of postpartum depressive symptoms," says Dagher, an assistant professor of health services administration at the School of Public Health. In the …show more content…
Besides the weakened immune system due to no breastfeeding, the baby may develop maternal deprivation - a condition when the child feels that the mother is not paying enough attention to him; this may cause delinquency, reduced intelligence, increased aggression, depression. “The benign neglect of extensive maternal deprivation in one of the wealthiest countries in the world is more than embarrassing: the society pays for it dearly. The Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen has been pointing out that the mother's role as life-givers is uniquely important: “maternal deprivation in terms of nutrition and healthcare rebounds on the society as a whole in the form of ill-health of their offspring.””(Osmani,