I have been hoarding breastmilk in my freezer for exactly three years

My “baby” turned three a month ago, although she now insists she is “not a baby”. We have officially entered the threenager era.

She stopped breastfeeding a long time ago. And still, every time I open that freezer, they are there at the back, staring at me. And I can't throw them away.

Not because I might need them. Because of everything they represent.

• Pumping sessions squeezed between meetings.
• Building my calendar around feeding and expressing times.
• Travelling for work with a breast pump packed beside my laptop and presentation notes.
• Worrying when a hectic schedule or time away from my baby caused my supply to drop.
• Quietly stepping away, handling what needed to be handled, and returning to work as though nothing unusual had happened.

And if you had looked at my calendar during that period, everything would have appeared perfectly normal.

This isn't a complaint. We all carry things other people cannot see. But breastfeeding while working is one of those realities that is deeply lived and still rarely discussed at work.

We often talk about maternity leave. But the reality doesn't end when maternity leave ends. For many mothers, returning to work is when a different kind of balancing act begins.

I was fortunate. I worked with leaders who trusted me, gave me flexibility when I needed it, and never made me feel uncomfortable for taking the time. Looking back, I realise how much that mattered.

Not every woman feels comfortable asking for what she needs. Not every workplace makes it easy for her to do so.

There is an old saying in my home country that when you give birth, you stop living for yourself and begin living through your child. Motherhood certainly changed me, but it didn't erase my ambitions or end my professional life.

With the right environment, women can keep building meaningful careers while navigating motherhood in all its demanding, beautiful, chaotic forms.

Strengthen what works

This week is World Breastfeeding Week. The theme this year is “strengthen what works.” So to the managers, HR professionals and business owners shaping our workplaces: please keep doing exactly that. Sometimes that is a formal policy. Sometimes it is a private space, a flexible schedule, an understanding conversation, or a culture where a mother isn't embarrassed to ask.

And to every mother, those who breastfed for years, for weeks, chose not to, or wanted to but couldn't: there is no single way to be a good mother.

As for me, maybe it is finally time to let these bags go. Not because they no longer matter, but because I wasn't holding on to milk. I was holding on to an entire chapter of my life.