law for breastfeeding room in workplace

A long time ago I wrote a blog about a woman who fired for expressing breast milk outside of her scheduled break time. She should not have been fired, because she already had it approved by her line lead. Later her supervisor walked in to the bathroom and told her she needed to leave because it wasn't her break time. The case was headed to the Supreme court, and with it the observation that working mothers need a more sanitary place to express milk than in the bathroom. I don't know what ever happened with that case, but I just found a new law on the matter.

Obama recently signed a healthcare bill into law. Part of it includes the requirement of companies who have 50 employees or more to provide a place other than a bathroom that is out of the way of view or intrusion of co-workers and general public. The Pediatrics journal showed a recent study that breastfeeding a child for the first 6 months would save around 1,000 lives and billions of dollars every year. Breastfeeding helps babies fight off nasty stuff like pneumonia and premature death. The lack of support is apparent when looking at statistics like: 74% of women begin breastfeeding. By the time those infants are 3 months only 33% of mothers are still breastfeeding. At 6 months, only 14% of mothers are still breastfeeding.

No formula currently made by man can replace the benefits of the nutrient rich, illness fighting milk made naturally from a mother. This site provides many factual benefits of breastfeeding for both the baby and the mother. A few that stood out for me are: the most complete and optimal mix of nutrients and antibodies, less diarrhea and vomiting for the little ones, less colic, constipation, and stomach upsets, protects against allergies, asthma, and eczema, considered the 4th trimester for brain growth and development, hospitalized 10 times less than formula fed infants, lower risk for diabetes and obesity, and so many more. As for mothers, breastfeeding reduces the risk of cancer of the breast, ovaries, cervical, and endometrium. It also protects against osteoporosis, mortality of rheumatoid arthritis, delays fertility and therefore the risk of having babies too close together. It helps the uterus contract after birth and so controls post partum bleeding. And again, the list goes on.

Everyone has their opinion about weather or not a woman should breastfeed in public. In my own opinion, a woman should not be ashamed to feed her baby. We all have such busy lives without trying to make sure we are home every two-three hours to feed our babies so we don't make someone uncomfortable. I am not sure if I would ever be able to bring myself to do it, even coved by a blanket, but that is because of the tension and discomfort it brings because of our society. Here is a site that talks about the over-sexualization of a womans breasts. A woman has breasts so that they may one day feed their baby. It seems like a common sense problem to me, unfortunately there are many more Americans to convince.