Breastfeeding in the News March 1st – 8th, 2010
Worldwide news about breastfeeding from Kathy Abbott IBCLC, The Curious Lactivist.
This week’s news certainly had its share of titillation. From a chef who serves his patrons a cheese made from his wife’s breast milk, the woman in jail who was charged with assault for squirting her milk at a guard, to the mother who admits to breastfeeding her 14 year old. And let’s not forget that fashion show that Bravado (makers of nursing bras) held in Las Vegas where the pregnant models were banned from walking the runway.
Mixed in with the odd ball articles two very sad stories also caught my eye. In the Philippines a 31 year old woman was shot dead while breastfeeding her one year old. The baby was still suckling her breast when they found her. And in Uganda authorities say they have no proof that a mother who says her husband forced her to breastfeed puppies is telling the truth. Apparently the scars on her breast were believed to be the result of her epilepsy, and the testimony from her children (ages 5 & 2) was not to be taken seriously because they after all merely children.
There were several stories about breastfeeding and the workplace this week and none of it was very encouraging I’m afraid. Although donating a handmade quilt to a local health department breastfeeding room was a nice gesture of support it appears that combining breastfeeding and work remains a struggle in many places. Utah failed to pass a bill requiring workplaces to set aside space for breastfeeding. In Oklahoma where they have a law allowing mothers to express milk at work (during unpaid time) there was no mandate to set aside space to do so. Officially encouraging businesses to set aside space hasn’t worked either as only 26 offices now have a designated pumping space. (I find it ironic that the title of this article was “Workplaces Nurture Nursing Moms”.)
In “To Pump or Not to Pump?” a mother whose office had a designated pumping room explains the dilemma she found herself in when she found it difficult to accept a travel assignment that would have made it difficult to pump. In Taipei a survey found that less than 4% of businesses had a breastfeeding room and that lack of space was one of the main reasons cited for not doing so. They too are considering a bill requiring public offices to create such a space which, unlike Oklahoma the bill, includes a provision to fine those who don’t comply.
Read all the news on The Curious Lactivist.
