Sign on to support breastfeeding moms

September 28th, 2008

Yesterday I was at a street fair with some friends in Montpelier. While nursing Ada an older man approached me and told me that I shouldn’t be “doing that” in public. It’s the first time I’ve been scolded for nursing and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Luckily Vermont is one of the 42 states that has laws in place to protect nursing mothers and I forcefully told him so. It’s HE and people like him, who should not be warping the innocent act of breastfeeding into a pornographic one.

Vt. Acts, Act 117 (2002) state that breastfeeding should be encouraged in the interest of enhancing maternal, child and family health. The law provides that a mother may breastfeed her child in any place of public accommodation in which the mother and child would otherwise have a legal right to be.

At a time when the many health benefits of breastfeeding need hardly be defended, women are still being shamed into feeding their children in bathroom stalls or worse, stopping all together. Apparently it is a national goal to increase the proportion of mothers who breastfeed their babies in the early postpartum period to 75 percent by the year 2010 (http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/breast50.htm), and I’m writing now to assist in my own small way with that goal.

JOIN ME IN SUPPORTING THE BREASTFEEDING PROMOTION ACT!  Sign the Statement of Support for breastfeeding moms everywhere now: “Healthcare professionals inform us that breastfeeding is the best possible way to ensure that babies thrive.  In turn, we must ensure that breastfeeding mothers are able to breastfeed, and given the time and environment to pump at work or during other professional obligations.” Congress and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) need to hear that breastfeeding must be supported for all moms, and that we support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act which is currently before Congress.
*Click here to sign the Statement of Support for breastfeeding moms.
When a subsidiary of Delta Airlines kicked a woman off an airplane for breastfeeding, we sent them a petition with more than 20,000 MomsRising signatures, and shortly afterward the airline apologized and instituted a new training program for their employees. STAND WITH MOTHERS ACROSS THE NATION!  Frankly, we all lose when we don’t support mothers–businesses lose excellent employees, infants lose important nutrients, and women lose needed jobs. No mom should have to choose between keeping her job and feeding her baby and protecting her own health. All too often women aren’t able to breastfeed their babies even though the American Academy of Pediatrics tells us it’s one of the most important things we can do for a child’s health. Let’s send a strong message together that it’s time to “walk the talk” for healthy infants and mothers.

Much Love, D

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