In The News-Rediculed Mom + Breastfeeding Saves Lives and Money

Last night I asked Kevin to nudge me awake to see the story that was advertised on the news about an Army wife who was told to stop breastfeeding because the office she was in needed to maintain a "professional atmosphere".

My first reaction was that I was disappointed that a woman said it and I wanted to know if she was a mother. My second reaction was well, having a baby in the office isn't professional no matter how you feed him/her. So, clearly that wasn't the real reason.

The mother modeled how she fed the baby for the news camera (baby and breast covered) for everyone watching TV to see, so the woman who scolded her failed miserably in her attempt to keep her from nursing in public! For the whole story see http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=8048784.

The second story got me super excited. It's a complicated study released in the journal, Pediatrics, by the American Academy of Pediatrics that says if 90% of women would breastfeed their babies for 6 months than 900 babies' lives would be saved along with billions of dollars.

My favorite quote from the article was this, "He (Pediatrician Dr. Dr. Lary Gray) also said mothers who don't breast-feed for six months shouldn't be blamed or made to feel guilty, because their jobs and other demands often make it impossible to do so. 'We'd all love as pediatricians to be able to carry this information into the boardrooms by saying we all gain by small changes at the workplace that encourage breast-feeding,' Gray said."


Milk Mentors has Corporate Lactation Program to help business become breastfeeding friendly. It turns out, businesses can save $3 for every $1 they invest in accommodating employees who are also breastfeeding mothers and by complying with 2010s Affordable Care Act which mandates that businesses with 50 employees or more provide a private non bathroom location for employees to express milk for their babies during the first year of the baby's life.

For more on this very interesting and mathematically challenging study see http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=154266 .