Tough economic times | Harder for women to breastfeed?

Nursing moms need workplace policies that support breastfeeding. Ask your Members of Congress to co-sponsor the Breastfeeding Promotion Act today! Take Action

Another blog devoted to children's health issues:

Tough economic times may be making it harder for women to breastfeed?  Yes!  According to a recent ABC news story, one of the fall-outs from the recession is that some new mothers are feeling forced to take shorter maternity leaves due to concerns about finances and job stability.¹ Unfortunately, women who have to cut their maternity leave short often can't continue to breastfeed their infants because many workplaces don't adequately support breastfeeding.² That's a big problem when you consider that 56% of women with infants are now the in the labor force--we need common-sense workplace policies to make sure that moms who want to breastfeed can.³

Act now for nursing moms by urging your Member of Congress to support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act: http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27279

Too many women are unable to breastfeed for the 6 months recommended by doctors and experts. This is often due to the fact that many workplace structures make this nearly impossible.  While 74% of U.S. women breastfeed their infants at birth, only 12% are exclusively breastfeeding at six months as recommended by every major national and international medical authority.⁴ On average, rates of breastfeeding drop even lower for young and low-income mothers.⁵

Some mothers choose to stop breastfeeding but others don't have a choice.  Many women who work outside the home face significant barriers or outright discrimination in their efforts to breastfeed.  Even well-intentioned employers may be unaware about how to accommodate nursing moms, leaving women using sheets to cover up in cubicles, cramming into bathroom stalls with breast pumps, or even hiding out in dingy supply rooms just to pump breast milk for their babies.

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) recently introduced the Breastfeeding Promotion Act to support employers and nursing moms by:

• Providing tax incentives for businesses that establish private lactation areas in the workplace;
• Requiring employers to make reasonable efforts to provide appropriate space and break time for mothers to express milk;
• Protecting breastfeeding women from being fired or discriminated against in the workplace; and
• Allowing families to deduct the cost of breastfeeding equipment on their taxes, as is the case with other common medical expenses.⁶

Studies show that breastfeeding is good for babies, mothers and employers!  Breastfed babies have a lower risk of infection, obesity, diabetes, and other health problems.  This not only reduces a family's healthcare costs (and anguish), it also reduces costs (and workplace interruptions) for employers, given that mothers and fathers with healthier babies have to leave work less often to care them. ⁷

Voice your support for the Breastfeeding Promotion Act today: http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27279

Thanks for speaking up for nursing mothers!

-- Dionna, Ashley, Mary, Donna, Kristin, and the MomsRising Team 

P.S. Do you have a success or horror story about trying to breastfeed after returning to work?  Share it with us and others in the MomsRising community here:  http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/9253/blog/comments.jsp?key=502&blog_entry_KEY=23366&t=

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CITATIONS

[1] http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7850067
[2] Guendelman, Sylvia; Lang Kosa, Jessica; pearl, Michelle; Graham, Steve; Goodman, Julia;& Kharrazi, Martin. (2009). Juggling work and breastfeeding effects of maternity leave and occupational characteristics. Pediatrics, 123, e38-e46.
[3] http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/famee.pdf
[4] http://www.usbreastfeeding.org/LinkClick.aspx?link=publications%2fHealth-Care-Reform-One-page-USBC.pdf&tabid=36&mid=378
[5] http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/NIS_data/index.htm
[6] http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.2819:
[7] http://www.usbreastfeeding.org/LinkClick.aspx?link=publications%2fEconomic-Benefits-2002-USBC.pdf&tabid=70&mid=388

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Comments

[Free Time]

I know that as a mother, it was really hard to feed in public. People are just not very accepting of this any more.

[Jeanne M Hannah]

Yes, I understand that many people are not tolerant. However, it is possible to nurse discreetly in public. For example, when I flew with my infant in 1973, I was able to nurse him (not just because he was hungry but most important, so that his ears would not hurt from the pressure on take-off and landing). I simply draped a light blanket over him.

It's not that people did not know what I was doing. Several older women stopped me as I got off the plane with my two children and told me that they thought I was a wonderful mother and they praised me for having the courage to mother according to what was best for my children, not what was "socially acceptable."

Interestingly, it took me many months to put my foot down and nurse in the presence of my in-laws. I got tired of sitting in a back bedroom to nurse and told them that it was a natural act, that there wasn't anything disgusting about it, and that I was planning to be discreet. Everything was cool after that. Jeanne