Infant Feeding and Return to Paid Work Conference

We hosted an Infant Feeding and Return to Paid Work Conference  as part our Maternal Well-Being Infant Feeding and Return to Paid Work study being funded by the Nuffield Foundation. on Wednesday 19 June 2024. This conference was aimed at our stakeholders: families, employers, policy makers, practitioners, academics and anyone with an interest in infant feeding and return to paid work. We wish to thank everybody who participated in the conference, your insight and the discussions were invaluable. Below you can find the recordings of the conference presentations.

Conference Overview

Professor Sarah Jewell kicked off the conference with an introduction to the study and Dr Fari Aftab, the study’s postdoctoral research assistant, introduced her work on well-being. Our study explores the lived experience of new mothers who wish to breastfeed upon return to work, and how organisations can better support breastfeeding employees. The work is being led by Professor Sarah Jewell, from the Department of Economics at the University of Reading and draws on expertise in economics, law and health communication. The study aims to better understand the realities faced by new mothers and will help inform policy and practice to improve the working lives and well-being of new mothers. Drawing on the findings of the study, we want to develop resource and toolkits to support both families and employers. You can watch the introductory presentation below:

We then heard from our first guest speaker Dr Ernestine Gheyoh Ndzi (York St John University) who talked about her study exploring breastfeeding provisions and support in UK universities; “Mind the Gap: Infant Feeding and Return to work” (spoiler: there is still some way to go!). Ernestine is the Associate Dean for Law and Police Studies at York St John University. Her research interest lies in Company Law and Employment Law. Ernestine has in the past four years been researching on shared parental leave and breastfeeding. Ernestine is a member of the Board of Trustees for The Breastfeeding Network, member of Breastfeeding Law Group UK and Member of the Advisory Board, Working Families. She is creator of the documentary entitled “Breastfeeding: Not on the Agenda” and the 9-webinar series. You can watch Ernestine’s presentation below (please note there was a technical issue at the start where the slides were not showing which was rectified a few minutes in):

After lunch Professor Sarah Jewell provided insights from the study’s mother survey and interviews, exploring infant feeding and return to work realities: the lived experience:

Next we were delighted to hear Dr Ellen Evans present her Project Expressing study: “Exploring the Hygiene Challenges of Expressing Breastmilk in the Workplace After Returning from Maternity Leave”. Ellen is a Reader in Food Safety Behaviour at the ZERO2FIVE Food Industry Centre in the UK.  Ellen states that she is intrigued by the influence of knowledge and perceptions upon behaviour, and the impact this has on food safety. This interest spans from food handlers in the food sector through to the consumer in the domestic environment. Project expressing. being led by Ellen alongside Dr Sophia Komninou from the University of Swansea,  aims to explore the hygiene challenges faced by mothers expressing breastmilk in the workplace and you can find out more about the study in the study’s poster. After the presentation I think we were all eager to go and check the temperature of our fridges at home! You can watch Ellen’s presentation below:

Professor Grace James from the School of Law at the University of Reading finished the presentations  by considering the workplace policy and legal implications of our study, and considering the way forward.  Some of the implications from our study are summarised in our story board which you are welcome to share/use. You can watch Grace’s presentation below:

Group Discussion

We finished the day with a group discussion, exploring the following questions relating to information/support:

You can still contribute if you wish and can share ideas on our Padlet as well as see ideas already posted!