Man Responds To A Mom's Story About Being Forced To Go Back To Work At Walmart Right After Having A Baby – 'That's Not True'
1 in 4 U.S. mothers return to work within as little as a few days to two weeks after giving birth.
@jesspipermo / TikTok One mother on TikTok named Jess Piper (@jesspipermo) posted a video explaining the repercussions of being forced to go into work only two weeks after bringing a child into the world when a man online told her he didn’t believe her story.
The man accused the mom of lying about returning to work two weeks after giving birth.
“I had my first son when I was 20 years old. I went back to work at Walmart when he was 14 days old,” the woman stated in her video. At the time, Piper said that she wasn’t given any kind of paid maternity leave, so her only option was to go back to work.
In the TikTok, Piper recalled in detail the night she came home after her first day back at work. “My entire shirt was soaked with milk and my pants were soaked with blood.”
When Piper shared her story on social media, she was met with a slew of derogatory replies — most of which were written by men — that blamed her for being irresponsible and getting pregnant in the first place. Many down-right accused her of lying about her experience.
“I had a man tell me, ‘That’s not true.’ He didn’t believe my story about being fourteen days postpartum and what it’s like,” said Piper. In complete and utter disbelief, the woman offered a biting remark, “He should run for Congress, right? He should run for representative or senator because he is as knowledgeable as the men who are currently writing laws against women’s bodies."
“They don’t know how milk production works; they don’t know about contracting uteruses,” she continued. “They don’t know sh–t.”
To put things into perspective, it takes 40 weeks for the female body to give birth to a full-term baby. During that time, women are experiencing drastic changes throughout their bodies, all while being expected to carry on working as they normally would prior to their pregnancy.
But the burden doesn’t end there. These issues become increasingly prevalent even beyond the delivery room, especially for low-income mothers and parents. Studies have shown that 1 in 4 U.S. mothers return to work within as little as a few days to two weeks in order to make ends meet after bringing a new life into the world.
Photo: Shutterstock / Ground Picture
Strangely enough, there is no mandated paid maternity leave in the United States despite the fact that 82% of the American population support access to paid parental leave. Although some private businesses (albeit very few) do offer sabbaticals, many don’t provide nearly enough time for mothers to recover and bond with their children.
It takes, at the very least, six weeks for the human body to somewhat recover from childbirth, but that isn’t counting all the other challenges that come into play even in the weeks and months following childbirth. Bleeding, lactation issues, constipation, depression, fatigue, insomnia, hormonal shifts, water retention, etc. are all commonplace side effects that certainly require a longer period of recovery for mothers.
People in the comments praised the woman for raising awareness about the challenges mothers face without the help of maternity leave.
One user wrote, “We need more women to share these experiences. Our voices must be heard.”
“I so appreciate you,” said another, “Thank you for showing the ignorance of these morons.”
Along with the series of laudatory comments, the video also earned a variety of shared experiences among users. “I’m a teacher. I went back two weeks after a cesarean because that was the end of my paid leave days. I wasn’t even supposed to be driving yet.”
“I was too poor to get a breast pump so [I] had to switch to formula anyway, but I had washcloths in my bra and underwear,” another user revealed.
“The US may be the richest nation, but it is the poorest in humanity. And so uneducated,” a final user concluded.
In the end, more must be done to help mothers. Period.
Xiomara Demarchi is a writer based in New York and frequent contributor to YourTango’s news and entertainment team. Keep up with them on Instagram.