Earlier this month, which is Breastfeeding Month, well-known model Gisele Bundchen sparked a firestorm of controversy regarding her opinion that breastfeeding should become a global requirement by law.
Gisele, clearly passionate about being a new mom, may have gone a little overboard, but her heart was in the right place. She retracted her statement a few days later on her own blog, stating that she did not mean to say that it should be law, but that she was just excited and that the press and media took the statement out of context. her. I bring this up because I think Gisele has advanced an important conversation about the workplace and expressing breast milk.
Gisele Bundchen wrote on her blog. “My intention in making a comment about the importance of breastfeeding has nothing to do with the law. It comes from my passion and beliefs about children. Being a new mom has brought me many questions, I feel like I am in a constant search. to get answers about what might be best for my child. It is unfortunate that in an interview sometimes things seem so black and white. I am sure that if I were to sit down and talk about my experiences with other mothers, we would only be sharing opinions. “. I understand that everyone has their own experience and opinions and I’m not here to judge. I believe that bringing a life into this world is the most important thing a person can undertake and it can also be the most challenging. I think that as mothers, we all We’re doing our best.”
Last week I wrote about how to safely store breastmilk while you’re at work, or away from your baby, for whatever reason. This week, my article is about the many challenges women around the world face, both cultural and governmental, when trying to breastfeed their babies.
The month of August is Breast Awareness Month. The US Department of Health and Human Services sponsors a campaign to encourage women to breastfeed. Despite all the articles and books promoting the importance of optimizing infant health through breastfeeding, 70% of women will begin breastfeeding immediately after delivery and less than 20% will continue to breastfeed 6 months later. There are still numerous cultural and legal barriers that make it very difficult for mothers to exclusively breastfeed. Women often feel nervous and embarrassed when breastfeeding in public and this will often result in giving up breastfeeding.
A well-known legal case in 1981 (Dike v. The School Board) is a perfect example of a discriminatory situation that breastfeeding mothers can face.
Case study
Janice Dike was an elementary school teacher in Orange County, Florida who was prohibited from breastfeeding her son during his free lunch period. She stated that her breastfeeding did not interfere with her teaching or her other school and work activities. The local court ruled against her, saying it was illegal to breastfeed at school. On appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, this decision was invested. The decision established that breastfeeding is a constitutional right that cannot be restricted by states. However, this sentence was inverted again in the case of Shahar v Bowers (1997) in which the Court declared that the Constitution does not deal with private conduct but rather that state laws must control the basic right of a woman to breastfeed her child.
What are the current laws?
There are federal laws and state laws that protect the rights of breastfeeding mothers and provide a supportive social environment. mothers they should be aware of the legislation that exists in their particular state to avoid feelings of discrimination and to relieve any anxiety they may have in public places. States vary in their protection of women.
- Forty-four states (and the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands) have laws that specifically allow women to breastfeed in public and private settings.
- Twenty-eight states (including the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands) have specific laws that exempt breastfeeding from public indecency laws.
- Twenty-four states (including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) have laws that protect women when they breastfeed in the workplace.
- Twelve states (including Puerto Rico) exempt breastfeeding women from jury duty.
- Five states and Puerto Rico have breastfeeding education campaigns.
- Individual states also have unique laws. Places like New Jersey and Hawaii allow a woman to seek legal recourse if she is unfairly discriminated against for breastfeeding in public, and states like Missouri allow breastfeeding only at certain times and places and with due discretion.
- Women can eat in any federal building or property, regardless of status (passed in 1999).
- Only Virginia allows women to breastfeed on any State land or property.
In my own state, Connecticut, there is a law that protects a woman’s right to breastfeed her child in any public place and employers must allow you to breastfeed or express milk at work, even if it is a very small business. This means that her employer must allow her to breastfeed or express milk during her meal or rest period, and her employer must make a reasonable effort to provide her with a room or a comfortable place to do so (not a bathroom).
federal laws
In March 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which now requires an employer to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express milk for the purpose of nursing or expressing milk for her child. for a year. The employer is not required to compensate the employee for this time. The employer must also provide a reasonable space to do this (not a bathroom). An employer of fewer than 50 employees is not required to do this if it imposes undue hardship. Additionally, this law is not intended to override any state law that provides even greater protection for a nursing employee.
Other bills have been proposed in Congress in the past to try to protect lactation rights that provide tax incentives for companies to create lactation rooms for employees, minimum standards for quality control of breast pumps and tax deductions for lactation equipment and services. However, these proposals have not been approved.
US Policy on Breastfeeding
On a broader level, in world politics, the United States has No has been considered one of the world leaders in policies to promote breastfeeding.
Important international policies in the past included:
- The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was ratified by every country in the world except the United States and Somalia. This convention provided a basis for governments, international agencies, and other organizations to formulate programs to support, promote, and protect breastfeeding.
- In 1989, WHO and UNICEF issued a joint statement entitled Protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding: Ten steps to successful breastfeeding, which calls on hospitals and health centers to adopt practices to encourage and promote breastfeeding .
- 1990, the Declaration of Innocenti was created by participants at the WHO/UNICEF meeting of policy makers on breastfeeding held in Florence, Italy, which set targets for governments to implement by 1995 to establish national coordinators and committees on breastfeeding. breastfeeding and ensure appropriate maternity services that protect the breastfeeding rights of working women. .
- The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) was launched in 1991 by WHO and UNICEF to call for action for all maternity services, independent or hospital-based, to become centers of excellence in child support. to breastfeeding. Accreditation is granted when a facility does not accept free or low-cost breastmilk substitutes, does not provide bottles or artificial teats, and has implemented the Ten-Step Program to Support Breastfeeding. As of 2007, there were only 56 BabyFriendly-certified hospitals and birthing centers in the US.
- The United States Breastfeeding Committee was established in 1998 (USBC) and works on advocacy issues at the federal level. This is a group of 40 organizations that promote, protect, and support breastfeeding in the United States by focusing on national policy issues. The Committee intends to promote the implementation of the 1990 Innocenti goals to establish a national breastfeeding committee.
- In 2001, the US Surgeon General issued the HHS Action Plan on Breastfeeding to encourage, market, and support breastfeeding in the community and enable the US health care system to support training of health professionals on basic counseling and management concepts within hospitals and birthing centers, and to support the facilitation of breastfeeding for women returning to the workplace.
Women facing discrimination can file complaints with the National Alliance for Breastfeeding Advocacy (http://www.naba-breastfeeding.org/).
The LaLeche League International (LLLI) is also a valuable source of breastfeeding legislation. Also, www.ncsl.org is a good resource for reviewing your state’s legislation on breastfeeding.
conclusion
Breastfeeding a newborn is considered a basic human right of the mother, to guarantee the child’s right to adequate nutrition, health and care. Different countries have their own cultural, social, economic and political norms, but basic protection guaranteed by the government is essential to support women’s rights in this area. With President Obama’s recent legislation, the United States is finally trying to catch up by providing legal and social support to improve national goals of increasing the percentage of breastfeeding to 75% at birth, 50% at 6 months, and 25% at birth. year of life life.
Even in the US, we have a long way to go in terms of acceptance of this natural and beautiful practice. Take the time to learn the facts so you can participate in conversations about the breastfeeding law, whether at work, in a social situation, or even while helping others learn how to breastfeed successfully. If you are a doctor or lactation specialist, please note that this is the most recent research available.