I recently joined the ranks of parenthood, and there's one thing in Williamsburg that made that transition easier: the breast-feeding support group at Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center.
I had my son at the now-shuttered Sentara Williamsburg Community Hospital, and the support group was my introduction to the beautiful new facility. The support group meets in the Yorktown conference room Monday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings for new moms to drop by from 10 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. Thursday sessions are actually called the New Moms Support Group and women who aren't breast-feeding are welcome. Mothers can weigh their babies and get help from Kris Kiley, the hospital's lactation consultant.
One of the reasons this group is so important is that mothers can meet other women going through the disorienting process of trying to feed a newborn baby. Babies can be somewhat demanding and getting a feeding schedule on track can be challenging. I found talking to other moms very helpful. Other women said that it helps with the baby blues to have people to talk to about the everyday challenges.
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Thursday, December 21, 2006
Breastfeeding in mealtime, comfort (Central Kentucky News Journal)
I am responding to an article written by Linda Ireland titled "Debating the public and private domain."
Do you know this woman? Have you ever met her or her child? How do you know that she could have covered up? Perhaps, her experience with her baby tells her that her baby would simply have began crying or thrown the blanket off, making it futile. Are you aware that many babies like to look around or into the eyes of their mother while they eat, that they will not nurse if covered up? For some, the blanket is a distraction. Are you aware that nursing comforts a fussy child?
Should she, instead, have allowed her child to scream and cry during the entire flight, just to avoid flashing an unsuspecting passenger? Are you aware that nursing lessens the painful popping sensation of the ears during take off and landing, that a child who is sucking on something is less apt to holler as a result of the discomfort? Are you aware that prolonged pacifier and bottle use can cause dental problems and interfere with milk supply?
click to read more...
Do you know this woman? Have you ever met her or her child? How do you know that she could have covered up? Perhaps, her experience with her baby tells her that her baby would simply have began crying or thrown the blanket off, making it futile. Are you aware that many babies like to look around or into the eyes of their mother while they eat, that they will not nurse if covered up? For some, the blanket is a distraction. Are you aware that nursing comforts a fussy child?
Should she, instead, have allowed her child to scream and cry during the entire flight, just to avoid flashing an unsuspecting passenger? Are you aware that nursing lessens the painful popping sensation of the ears during take off and landing, that a child who is sucking on something is less apt to holler as a result of the discomfort? Are you aware that prolonged pacifier and bottle use can cause dental problems and interfere with milk supply?
click to read more...
Nursing is normal and not something to hide (Central Kentucky News Journal)
Linda Ireland recently wrote an editorial responding to the New Mexico mother expulsion from a Freedom Airlines flight on Monday, Dec. 4.
As a nursing mother myself, I am offended and appalled that Ireland compared the act of breastfeeding to mouth-breathing and belching.
Nursing a child is normal and not something to be hidden in shame or done in the bathroom.
Ireland suggested that all nursing mothers carry blankets just in case someone around them gets offended. Well, here's a newsflash for you: someone will be offended whether we cover or not.
click to read more...
As a nursing mother myself, I am offended and appalled that Ireland compared the act of breastfeeding to mouth-breathing and belching.
Nursing a child is normal and not something to be hidden in shame or done in the bathroom.
Ireland suggested that all nursing mothers carry blankets just in case someone around them gets offended. Well, here's a newsflash for you: someone will be offended whether we cover or not.
click to read more...
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Airlines ask for dismissal of breast-feeding complaint (Times Argus)
SOUTH BURLINGTON — Two airlines named in a complaint by a woman who was kicked off a flight for breast-feeding have asked the Vermont Human Rights Commission to dismiss it.
Freedom Airlines and Delta Air Lines say women can nurse babies on their planes, but they say the complaint filed by Emily Gillette, 27, of Santa Fe, N.M., which argues that breast-feeding is a right protected by Vermont's Public Accommodations Law, should be dismissed.
"Freedom denies having discriminated against the charging party in any manner whatsoever and specifically denies that any violation of the Vermont Fair Housing and Accommodations Act ... has occurred," Freedom wrote in its response, which was provided by Gillette's attorney, Elizabeth Boepple of Manchester.
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Freedom Airlines and Delta Air Lines say women can nurse babies on their planes, but they say the complaint filed by Emily Gillette, 27, of Santa Fe, N.M., which argues that breast-feeding is a right protected by Vermont's Public Accommodations Law, should be dismissed.
"Freedom denies having discriminated against the charging party in any manner whatsoever and specifically denies that any violation of the Vermont Fair Housing and Accommodations Act ... has occurred," Freedom wrote in its response, which was provided by Gillette's attorney, Elizabeth Boepple of Manchester.
click to read more...
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Nestle
The FDA has posted on their website a warning letter that was sent to Nestle on November 27th. Testing of the formula referenced revealed that they were nutritionally deficient and did not contain the amounts of calcium and phosphorus that are declared on the product label.
Note that the testing was conducted six months ago.
click to read more...
Note that the testing was conducted six months ago.
click to read more...
Monday, December 11, 2006
Breast Feeding In Public Called Into Question (TheDay.com)
Did you hear the one about the woman who got escorted off a plane because she was flashing her boob?
No, it's not a punch line to a really funny joke.
The woman, Emily Gillette, was nursing her 1-year-old daughter. A Delta Air Lines flight attendant offered Gillette a blanket and told her to cover up. When she refused, Gillette, along with her husband and baby, were escorted off the plane.
The result was a dozen or so “nurse-ins,” protests held last month at Delta Air Lines ticket counters at airports around the country.
There's a chance that my liberalist and feminist cards may get yanked for this one, but I agree with the airlines. Not in the fact that they had the family leave the airplane — although how else would they have resolved the situation? — but that the flight attendant offered a blanket.
click to read more...
No, it's not a punch line to a really funny joke.
The woman, Emily Gillette, was nursing her 1-year-old daughter. A Delta Air Lines flight attendant offered Gillette a blanket and told her to cover up. When she refused, Gillette, along with her husband and baby, were escorted off the plane.
The result was a dozen or so “nurse-ins,” protests held last month at Delta Air Lines ticket counters at airports around the country.
There's a chance that my liberalist and feminist cards may get yanked for this one, but I agree with the airlines. Not in the fact that they had the family leave the airplane — although how else would they have resolved the situation? — but that the flight attendant offered a blanket.
click to read more...
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Milk Therapy (Science News)
Breast-milk compounds could be a tonic for adult ills
Catharina Svanborg thought that she already knew how remarkable breast milk is. The immunologist had logged hundreds of lab hours documenting ways in which human milk helps babies fight infections. But when the group decided to use cancerous lung cells to avoid the variability shown by normal cells in laboratory tests, Svanborg and her team at Lund University in Sweden were in for a surprise. They applied breast milk to the cancerous lung cells, and all the cells died. Breast milk killed cancer cells.
"From that moment on, we've been working with it," Svanborg says.
click to read more...
Catharina Svanborg thought that she already knew how remarkable breast milk is. The immunologist had logged hundreds of lab hours documenting ways in which human milk helps babies fight infections. But when the group decided to use cancerous lung cells to avoid the variability shown by normal cells in laboratory tests, Svanborg and her team at Lund University in Sweden were in for a surprise. They applied breast milk to the cancerous lung cells, and all the cells died. Breast milk killed cancer cells.
"From that moment on, we've been working with it," Svanborg says.
click to read more...
What exactly is a lactation consultant? (Bradenton Herald)
I have been called by many different titles here at the hospital. I have been referred to as the boob nurse, the milk nurse, the baby lady, and some other curious titles. As you can see at the end of this article however I am actually a lactation consultant (IBCLC: International Board Certified Lactation Consultant), as well as a registered nurse (RN).
What does a lactation actually do is a question that I hear often. A lactation consultant is a health care professional who works with other health care professionals to assure appropriate, evidenced-based management of breast-feeding. Our role is to protect, promote and support breast-feeding through education, counseling and clinical management.
The International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners bestows that certification after a rigorous exam and proof of completion of at least 190 hours of course work in lactation and 250 hours of supervised clinical/practical practice in lactation. Anyone who sits for the exam is tested on maternal and infant anatomy; physiology and endocrinology; nutrition and biochemistry; pathology; psychology, sociology and anthropology; public health; normal growth and development; ethics and law; and evidence-based management principles.
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What does a lactation actually do is a question that I hear often. A lactation consultant is a health care professional who works with other health care professionals to assure appropriate, evidenced-based management of breast-feeding. Our role is to protect, promote and support breast-feeding through education, counseling and clinical management.
The International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners bestows that certification after a rigorous exam and proof of completion of at least 190 hours of course work in lactation and 250 hours of supervised clinical/practical practice in lactation. Anyone who sits for the exam is tested on maternal and infant anatomy; physiology and endocrinology; nutrition and biochemistry; pathology; psychology, sociology and anthropology; public health; normal growth and development; ethics and law; and evidence-based management principles.
click to read more...
Breast-feeding Overcomes A Genetic Tendency Toward Ear Infections, Scientists Discover (Science Daily)
Breast-feeding protects children otherwise made susceptible to ear infections by abnormalities in specific human genes, researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have discovered.
About 19 percent of children are prone to chronic and recurrent ear infections (known to physicians as "otitis media"). These infections can interfere with language development and lead to learning difficulties. Scientists have long known that genetics plays a role in this vulnerability, but very few investigations have been done to pinpoint the specific genes involved. Their complex relationship with specific infectious agents and environmental factors such as exposure to cigarette smoke and breast-feeding also has remained largely a mystery.
The UTMB study, published in the December issue of the journal Pediatrics, examined genetic samples taken from 505 children in Texas and Kentucky, about 60 percent of whom were classified as "otitis media susceptible" because they had suffered an ear infection before the age of 6 months; had undergone three or more episodes of acute otitis media within a six-month period; had four or more episodes within a 12-month period; or had six or more episodes by age 6. Children who had required drainage tubes to assuage recurrent or persistent ear infections were also placed in the "susceptible" category.
click to read more...
About 19 percent of children are prone to chronic and recurrent ear infections (known to physicians as "otitis media"). These infections can interfere with language development and lead to learning difficulties. Scientists have long known that genetics plays a role in this vulnerability, but very few investigations have been done to pinpoint the specific genes involved. Their complex relationship with specific infectious agents and environmental factors such as exposure to cigarette smoke and breast-feeding also has remained largely a mystery.
The UTMB study, published in the December issue of the journal Pediatrics, examined genetic samples taken from 505 children in Texas and Kentucky, about 60 percent of whom were classified as "otitis media susceptible" because they had suffered an ear infection before the age of 6 months; had undergone three or more episodes of acute otitis media within a six-month period; had four or more episodes within a 12-month period; or had six or more episodes by age 6. Children who had required drainage tubes to assuage recurrent or persistent ear infections were also placed in the "susceptible" category.
click to read more...
Guest column: What’s next? Hugging your kids in public? (The Joplin Globe)
My niece Karen has new baby and is feeding her the old-fashioned way. While in the hospital, I observed her telling one of her male relatives to “turn around if you don’t want to see this,” meaning she was about to breastfeed, and the man had apparently expressed an aversion to witnessing it. I found this flat-out hilarious.
First of all, we live in a culture in which breasts are used to sell everything from light beer to luxury cars. You can find wet-T-shirt contests on basic cable; cleavage is considered suitable attire for cocktails, the office, and Sunday Mass; but let a breast be used for the one purpose for which it is clearly designed and some people, and some men in particular, find it downright obscene.
click to read more...
First of all, we live in a culture in which breasts are used to sell everything from light beer to luxury cars. You can find wet-T-shirt contests on basic cable; cleavage is considered suitable attire for cocktails, the office, and Sunday Mass; but let a breast be used for the one purpose for which it is clearly designed and some people, and some men in particular, find it downright obscene.
click to read more...
Epidural babies can't get grip on what's breast (The Australian)
WOMEN who give birth with the aid of pain-relieving epidurals find it harder to breastfeed than those who give birth naturally, an Australian study has found.
The research suggests some of the drugs used in epidurals make their way into babies' bloodstreams, subtly affecting their brains and development for weeks afterwards -- including making them less willing to breastfeed. The study by University of Sydney epidemiologist Siranda Torvaldsen adds to a growing body of knowledge that makes a link between the use of the pain-killing drug fentanyl in epidurals and problems with breastfeeding. During an epidural a catheter is inserted into the spine to allow the infusion of pain-killing drugs. These deaden the nerves that relay sensations of pain from the lower body.
In a commentary on the research, published today in International Breastfeeding Journal, British scientist Sue Jordan suggests the impact of epidurals on breastfeeding should be officially classed as an "adverse drug reaction". Dr Jordan, senior lecturer in applied therapeutics at Swansea University, said women given the infusions should be offered extra support to stop their infants being "disadvantaged by this hidden, but far-reaching, adverse drug reaction".
click to read more...
The research suggests some of the drugs used in epidurals make their way into babies' bloodstreams, subtly affecting their brains and development for weeks afterwards -- including making them less willing to breastfeed. The study by University of Sydney epidemiologist Siranda Torvaldsen adds to a growing body of knowledge that makes a link between the use of the pain-killing drug fentanyl in epidurals and problems with breastfeeding. During an epidural a catheter is inserted into the spine to allow the infusion of pain-killing drugs. These deaden the nerves that relay sensations of pain from the lower body.
In a commentary on the research, published today in International Breastfeeding Journal, British scientist Sue Jordan suggests the impact of epidurals on breastfeeding should be officially classed as an "adverse drug reaction". Dr Jordan, senior lecturer in applied therapeutics at Swansea University, said women given the infusions should be offered extra support to stop their infants being "disadvantaged by this hidden, but far-reaching, adverse drug reaction".
click to read more...
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Breast-Feeding Offers Resilience Against Psychosocial Stress in Children (Medscape)
November 28, 2006 — Breast-feeding is linked to resilience against psychosocial stress, such as divorce, in children, according to the results of an observational study reported in the December issue of the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
"Some early life exposures may result in a well controlled stress response, which can reduce stress related anxiety," write S. M. Montgomery, MD, of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues. "Breast feeding may be a marker of some relevant exposures.... Potentially, these could operate through a number of mechanisms associated with factors such as maternal characteristics, development of the mother-child bond, and early mother-child interactions."
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"Some early life exposures may result in a well controlled stress response, which can reduce stress related anxiety," write S. M. Montgomery, MD, of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues. "Breast feeding may be a marker of some relevant exposures.... Potentially, these could operate through a number of mechanisms associated with factors such as maternal characteristics, development of the mother-child bond, and early mother-child interactions."
click to read more...
Perfecting the Formula (Technology Review)
Researchers have identified compounds in breast milk that might account for its oft-discussed ability to protect against certain diseases.
When it comes to infant nutrition, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that a mother's milk is not just the best food: it's also a baby's best defense against bacteria and viruses. Yet the reasons haven't been clear. Now, researchers at the University of California at Davis and at Agilent Technologies have identified a class of complex sugars in breast milk that may act as molecular protectors against gastrointestinal and other diseases.
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When it comes to infant nutrition, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that a mother's milk is not just the best food: it's also a baby's best defense against bacteria and viruses. Yet the reasons haven't been clear. Now, researchers at the University of California at Davis and at Agilent Technologies have identified a class of complex sugars in breast milk that may act as molecular protectors against gastrointestinal and other diseases.
click to read more...
Babies pay for poverty with their lives (Yorkshire Post Today)
BABIES in Yorkshire are dying needlessly because of poverty, poor housing and a low level of mothers breastfeeding, a major new investigation has revealed.
A study into why babies born in Bradford are more likely to die before their first birthday than anywhere else in the region is to be published today by the district's Infant Mortality Commission.
A copy of the report, obtained by the Yorkshire Post, identifies poverty as one of the reasons for the high number of babies in Bradford who die and highlights poor nutrition, women not breastfeeding and poor take-up of immunisation as issues to tackle.
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A study into why babies born in Bradford are more likely to die before their first birthday than anywhere else in the region is to be published today by the district's Infant Mortality Commission.
A copy of the report, obtained by the Yorkshire Post, identifies poverty as one of the reasons for the high number of babies in Bradford who die and highlights poor nutrition, women not breastfeeding and poor take-up of immunisation as issues to tackle.
click to read more...
Mothers’ Milk Bank (News 8 Austin)
April Rudge from Mothers’ Milk Bank talks about what her nonprofit needs this holiday season.
Q: Tell us a little bit about the organization.
A: We’re a nonprofit organization that serves a large area, mainly Texas, but other states as well. We accept donations of milk, we pasteurize that milk and then it is dispensed by prescription only to mostly premature and fragile babies that are in the neonatal ICU.
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Q: Tell us a little bit about the organization.
A: We’re a nonprofit organization that serves a large area, mainly Texas, but other states as well. We accept donations of milk, we pasteurize that milk and then it is dispensed by prescription only to mostly premature and fragile babies that are in the neonatal ICU.
click to read more...
Attention Massachusetts and New York mothers: Time to act on breastfeeding rights! (Motherwear breastfeeding blog)
Live in Massachusetts or New York? Now's your chance to voice your support for breastfeeding rights. Bills pending in your state legislatures would improve breastfeeding policy in your state.
click to read more...
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Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Nursing past three (Ashland Daily Tidings)
When we sat down to lunch this afternoon, my girlfriend Humaiya, also the mother of three children, marveled at my son Etani, who was putting rice on his fork with his hands and then wobbling it up to his mouth. "Look at him eat!" she cried. "He's not still nursing, is he?!"
"I'm planning to rent a house near where he goes to college," I joked to another friend who asked me in an exasperated voice when I was going to wean my son. "That way he can keep nursing."
Etani turned three in October and he nurses before his mid-day nap and at bedtime. I sometimes nurse him at other times too, when he feels sad or is really overtired or overwhelmed. He settles right down, his whole body relaxes, and he sighs with deep contentment. He doesn't have the vocabulary to tell me in words but if he did I think he'd say that nursing makes him feel safe and protected and loved.
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"I'm planning to rent a house near where he goes to college," I joked to another friend who asked me in an exasperated voice when I was going to wean my son. "That way he can keep nursing."
Etani turned three in October and he nurses before his mid-day nap and at bedtime. I sometimes nurse him at other times too, when he feels sad or is really overtired or overwhelmed. He settles right down, his whole body relaxes, and he sighs with deep contentment. He doesn't have the vocabulary to tell me in words but if he did I think he'd say that nursing makes him feel safe and protected and loved.
click to read more...
Monday, December 04, 2006
New moms and newborns need privacy, study shows (USA Today)
Flowers are always nice, but perhaps the best gift you can give a brand-new mom is some quiet time alone with her baby.
Now that hospital visiting hours — not to mention staffing — are 24/7, maternity units are taking steps to minimize interruptions and lower the volume. They recognize that lack of privacy can get breast-feeding off to a rocky start, while lack of sleep might play a role in postpartum depression.
A study in the latest Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing found that women typically experienced dozens of interruptions during their first day after delivering a baby.
Researchers recorded the number and duration of visits and phone calls from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. for 29 brand-new moms who intended to breast-feed. During that period, the mothers on average experienced 54 visits or phone calls, averaging 17 minutes in length. On the other hand, they were alone with their baby (or their baby and the baby's father) only 24 times on average, and half of those episodes were nine minutes or less.
click to read more...
Now that hospital visiting hours — not to mention staffing — are 24/7, maternity units are taking steps to minimize interruptions and lower the volume. They recognize that lack of privacy can get breast-feeding off to a rocky start, while lack of sleep might play a role in postpartum depression.
A study in the latest Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing found that women typically experienced dozens of interruptions during their first day after delivering a baby.
Researchers recorded the number and duration of visits and phone calls from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. for 29 brand-new moms who intended to breast-feed. During that period, the mothers on average experienced 54 visits or phone calls, averaging 17 minutes in length. On the other hand, they were alone with their baby (or their baby and the baby's father) only 24 times on average, and half of those episodes were nine minutes or less.
click to read more...
When it's feeding time, moms have rights, too (The Republican)
Here in Massachusetts, the cradle of liberty, there is no law guaranteeing mothers the right to nurse their babies in public.
The need for such a law was made obvious recently when Emily Gillette was ordered off a Freedom Airlines flight in Burlington, Vt., because she refused to cover her baby's head with a blanket while breast-feeding.
The incident sparked demonstrations at airports across the country, including Bradley International Airport, where one demonstrator, Susan Parker, the mother of a 10-month-old daughter, told the Associated Press, "It's a basic human thing that we are doing and we should be able to do it in public without being kicked off planes; without being told in sit in bathrooms. It's a human right."
click to read more...
The need for such a law was made obvious recently when Emily Gillette was ordered off a Freedom Airlines flight in Burlington, Vt., because she refused to cover her baby's head with a blanket while breast-feeding.
The incident sparked demonstrations at airports across the country, including Bradley International Airport, where one demonstrator, Susan Parker, the mother of a 10-month-old daughter, told the Associated Press, "It's a basic human thing that we are doing and we should be able to do it in public without being kicked off planes; without being told in sit in bathrooms. It's a human right."
click to read more...
BREAST-FEED RIGHTS BILL (New York Post)
December 4, 2006 -- Declaring it's time to advertise the right to breast-feed in New York, State Sen. Liz Krueger has introduced a "Breast-feeding Mothers' Bill of Rights."
The legislation would consolidate existing laws into a list of rights to be posted and distributed in maternity wards.
One rule would ban the makers of baby formula from pressuring new moms in hospitals into using their product. Another would stress a mother's right to keep her newborn near after delivery.
click to read more...
The legislation would consolidate existing laws into a list of rights to be posted and distributed in maternity wards.
One rule would ban the makers of baby formula from pressuring new moms in hospitals into using their product. Another would stress a mother's right to keep her newborn near after delivery.
click to read more...
Wet nurses latest way for rich Chinese to flash cash (Sydney Morning Herald)
LUXURY cars, yachts and diamonds are commonplace for China's super-rich, but a new status symbol has just been added to their list of must-haves - the wet nurse.
The practice of infants being suckled by women other than their mothers was branded decadent by Mao Zedong and was stamped out by the country's postwar leaders.
But in the booming cities of the east coast, the moneyed classes are no longer constrained by the taboos of their Communist overlords and they are looking to the past excesses of their ancestors. Pu Yi, the subject of Bernardo Bertolucci's 1987 film, The Last Emperor, was suckled well into his teens.
click to read more...
The practice of infants being suckled by women other than their mothers was branded decadent by Mao Zedong and was stamped out by the country's postwar leaders.
But in the booming cities of the east coast, the moneyed classes are no longer constrained by the taboos of their Communist overlords and they are looking to the past excesses of their ancestors. Pu Yi, the subject of Bernardo Bertolucci's 1987 film, The Last Emperor, was suckled well into his teens.
click to read more...
Help for nursing moms (Cincinnati Enquirer)
As family and friends raise their glasses during the holidays, mothers of nursing infants often raise a sobering question: How do I know when the occasional glass of eggnog or wine is out of my system, and my milk?
"We get lots of calls about that, especially with New Year's," says Candace Hochstrasser, a nurse and lactation consultant with St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Edgewood.
Elizabeth Smith and Julie Jumonville, first-time moms from Texas, think they have an answer.
click to read more...
"We get lots of calls about that, especially with New Year's," says Candace Hochstrasser, a nurse and lactation consultant with St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Edgewood.
Elizabeth Smith and Julie Jumonville, first-time moms from Texas, think they have an answer.
click to read more...
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Lampert Smith: Blocking lunch? Face fine (Wisconsin State Journal)
Soon it could be a crime to interfere with breast-feeding anywhere in Madison or Dane County.
Come between a baby and his lunch, buddy, and you'll face a fine of between $25 and $250, under a draft Madison ordinance.
City Council President Austin King has proposed an ordinance that would make it legal for a woman to breast- feed a baby or pump breast milk anywhere they are legally allowed to be. (It doesn't apply to private homes.)
click to read more...
Come between a baby and his lunch, buddy, and you'll face a fine of between $25 and $250, under a draft Madison ordinance.
City Council President Austin King has proposed an ordinance that would make it legal for a woman to breast- feed a baby or pump breast milk anywhere they are legally allowed to be. (It doesn't apply to private homes.)
click to read more...
Friday, December 01, 2006
KRUEGER INTRODUCES BREASTFEEDING MOTHERS' BILL OF RIGHTS (Amherst Times)
Legislation Codifies Mothers' Rights Into Single, Concise Document; Bans Commercial Interests from Pressuring New Mothers Into Using Formula
Seeking to codify a concise, easily understood document, State Senator Liz Krueger has introduced the Breastfeeding Mothers' Bill of Rights. The legislation, S8511, draws upon New York State Rules and Regulations, the Best Hospital Practices and the World Health Organization Baby Friendly guidelines.
"Breastfeeding is completely natural, and is in the best interests of our children. Unfortunately, the positive medical benefits that breastfeeding provides the mother and her child often go unrealized because our culture discourages women from starting to breastfeed, or continuing beyond a few weeks," said Krueger. "The Breastfeeding Mothers' Bill of Rights is common-sense legislation that empowers and supports these new mothers by providing them the information they need prior to, and after the birth of their infant so they can make the best decisions for their child and themselves."
click to read more...
Seeking to codify a concise, easily understood document, State Senator Liz Krueger has introduced the Breastfeeding Mothers' Bill of Rights. The legislation, S8511, draws upon New York State Rules and Regulations, the Best Hospital Practices and the World Health Organization Baby Friendly guidelines.
"Breastfeeding is completely natural, and is in the best interests of our children. Unfortunately, the positive medical benefits that breastfeeding provides the mother and her child often go unrealized because our culture discourages women from starting to breastfeed, or continuing beyond a few weeks," said Krueger. "The Breastfeeding Mothers' Bill of Rights is common-sense legislation that empowers and supports these new mothers by providing them the information they need prior to, and after the birth of their infant so they can make the best decisions for their child and themselves."
click to read more...
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Instant Messages (Chicago Sun-Times)
On Monday, Sun-Times columnist Laura Berman wrote about a "nurse-in" protest of Delta Air Lines after the carrier booted off a female passenger for breast-feeding; Berman urged social support for women who need to breast- feed in public. Readers responded:
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Mama-rama: Breast-feeding is not offensive (The Hub)
Maybe you've heard about the woman who was kicked off a Delta Airlines flight for nursing her daughter a couple of weeks ago. According to 27-year-old Emily Gillette of Santa Fe, N.M., she was in a window seat in the second-to-last row with her husband between her and the aisle, and no part of her breast was showing. Unfortunately for Emily, a flight attendant took offense and asked her to cover up with a blanket. When Emily declined, she and her husband and daughter were asked to get off the plane.
Now, I'm sure I don't have to tell you -- again -- how I feel about people who are offended by public breast-feeding. Basically, it begins with "too" and ends with "bad," with a "damn" in the middle there. The idea that feeding a child could be considered obscene or indiscreet, while every day thousands of men get away with plumber's crack scot-free, is enough to raise my blood pressure to dangerous heights.
click to read more...
Now, I'm sure I don't have to tell you -- again -- how I feel about people who are offended by public breast-feeding. Basically, it begins with "too" and ends with "bad," with a "damn" in the middle there. The idea that feeding a child could be considered obscene or indiscreet, while every day thousands of men get away with plumber's crack scot-free, is enough to raise my blood pressure to dangerous heights.
click to read more...
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Breastfeeding Rally To Take Place At DFW Airport (Press Release)
Nursing mothers and their supporters will be gathering on Friday, December 1 at 10 AM, at the Delta ticket counter in Terminal E of DFW airport.
On November 21, mothers and other advocates took part in a nation-wide nurse-in at roughly 40 U.S. airports. Like all of the rallies across the country, the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Nurse-in supported the right to breastfeed in all public and private locations, anywhere a mother and child might be, regardless of any issues of discretion. There was no formal national organization sponsoring this event, but amazingly, hundreds of mothers and other supporters turned out nation-wide. Unlike the rest of the nation, however, the supporters at the DFW Airport rally were harassed, insulted, and threatened with possible arrest by members of the DFW police (Department of Public Safety officers), and then asked to leave.
Though the right to breastfeed already exists, many people are unaware of this right, or may choose to challenge this right, or otherwise intimidate and cause discomfort for nursing moms, posing a great threat to the continuation and exclusivity of breastfeeding relationships and compromising the health of mothers and children, and the economic well-being of the society.
The goals of this Friday’s nurse-in are:
• To insist that the DFW Airport Police (DPS) apologize to the attendees of the November 21st rally for the unacceptable comments and threats, and provide documentation that training is being implemented to educate all DPS officers about the laws concerning breastfeeding in the state of Texas (specifically Texas Health And Safety Code Chapter 165 Section 002, which states “A mother is entitled to breastfeed her child in any location in which the mother is authorized to be,” as well as the definitions of indecent exposure and disorderly conduct). The DPS should ensure that in the future, officers will protect, rather than endanger breastfeeding relationships, by refraining from engaging in harassment of nursing moms and their children. The police should not approach breastfeeding mothers, but rather the mothers should be left alone.
• To hold Delta accountable for the removal of Emily Gillette from one of their flights and to insist that training procedures will be put into place to ensure that all staff at Delta and its subsidiaries will uphold and support a child’s right to breastfeed.
• To call for airlines to revisit their breastfeeding and transport of pumped breast milk policies, to support traveling families and working mothers who must travel for business and be separated from their children. Current policies about liquid items, which restrict the amount of pumped breast milk allowed on board with mothers who do not have their babies with them, compromise the health of babies who depend on pumped milk, and force mothers to dump precious breast milk that they have pumped while they were separated from their children. This situation is especially harmful for babies whose mothers already have difficulty pumping enough to meet the child’s needs during times of separation.
• To call for immediate passage of pending federal legislation that offers civil rights protection for breastfeeding women in the workplace, and new federal legislation to protect the right to breastfeed whenever and wherever mothers and their children are allowed to be, regardless of whether any part of the mother’s breast might be exposed during or incidental to the feeding. This legislation will clarify rights that already exist, and nullify any business policies or laws throughout the country that are already in place or might come into existence, which would infringe on a mother and child’s constitutional right to breastfeed (For example, Tennessee law protects a mother’s right to breastfeed a child in public only as long as the child is younger than 13 months of age).
The issue of breastfeeding rights goes far beyond a woman’s right to nurse - it also encompasses a basic human right for children, the right to eat and to receive comfort and nurturing at the breast.
The Nurse-ins have been coordinated by volunteers.
On November 21, mothers and other advocates took part in a nation-wide nurse-in at roughly 40 U.S. airports. Like all of the rallies across the country, the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Nurse-in supported the right to breastfeed in all public and private locations, anywhere a mother and child might be, regardless of any issues of discretion. There was no formal national organization sponsoring this event, but amazingly, hundreds of mothers and other supporters turned out nation-wide. Unlike the rest of the nation, however, the supporters at the DFW Airport rally were harassed, insulted, and threatened with possible arrest by members of the DFW police (Department of Public Safety officers), and then asked to leave.
Though the right to breastfeed already exists, many people are unaware of this right, or may choose to challenge this right, or otherwise intimidate and cause discomfort for nursing moms, posing a great threat to the continuation and exclusivity of breastfeeding relationships and compromising the health of mothers and children, and the economic well-being of the society.
The goals of this Friday’s nurse-in are:
• To insist that the DFW Airport Police (DPS) apologize to the attendees of the November 21st rally for the unacceptable comments and threats, and provide documentation that training is being implemented to educate all DPS officers about the laws concerning breastfeeding in the state of Texas (specifically Texas Health And Safety Code Chapter 165 Section 002, which states “A mother is entitled to breastfeed her child in any location in which the mother is authorized to be,” as well as the definitions of indecent exposure and disorderly conduct). The DPS should ensure that in the future, officers will protect, rather than endanger breastfeeding relationships, by refraining from engaging in harassment of nursing moms and their children. The police should not approach breastfeeding mothers, but rather the mothers should be left alone.
• To hold Delta accountable for the removal of Emily Gillette from one of their flights and to insist that training procedures will be put into place to ensure that all staff at Delta and its subsidiaries will uphold and support a child’s right to breastfeed.
• To call for airlines to revisit their breastfeeding and transport of pumped breast milk policies, to support traveling families and working mothers who must travel for business and be separated from their children. Current policies about liquid items, which restrict the amount of pumped breast milk allowed on board with mothers who do not have their babies with them, compromise the health of babies who depend on pumped milk, and force mothers to dump precious breast milk that they have pumped while they were separated from their children. This situation is especially harmful for babies whose mothers already have difficulty pumping enough to meet the child’s needs during times of separation.
• To call for immediate passage of pending federal legislation that offers civil rights protection for breastfeeding women in the workplace, and new federal legislation to protect the right to breastfeed whenever and wherever mothers and their children are allowed to be, regardless of whether any part of the mother’s breast might be exposed during or incidental to the feeding. This legislation will clarify rights that already exist, and nullify any business policies or laws throughout the country that are already in place or might come into existence, which would infringe on a mother and child’s constitutional right to breastfeed (For example, Tennessee law protects a mother’s right to breastfeed a child in public only as long as the child is younger than 13 months of age).
The issue of breastfeeding rights goes far beyond a woman’s right to nurse - it also encompasses a basic human right for children, the right to eat and to receive comfort and nurturing at the breast.
The Nurse-ins have been coordinated by volunteers.
Get past breast-feeding unease (DesMoines Register)
News that Delta kicked a family off a flight in October because the breast-feeding mother refused to cover her baby with a blanket is unfortunately not surprising.
Despite growing knowledge about the health benefits of breast-feeding - as if nourishment weren't enough - many people still feel uncomfortable about public breast-feeding.
Remember a few years ago in Iowa when a West Branch restaurant owner asked a nursing mother to cover up, go to the restroom or leave? She left.
click to read more...
Despite growing knowledge about the health benefits of breast-feeding - as if nourishment weren't enough - many people still feel uncomfortable about public breast-feeding.
Remember a few years ago in Iowa when a West Branch restaurant owner asked a nursing mother to cover up, go to the restroom or leave? She left.
click to read more...
Airlines gain extension in breast-feeding case (Burlington Free Press)
Delta Air Lines and Freedom Airlines have asked for an extension to answer the charge that they violated Vermont's Public Accommodations Law when a breast-feeding passenger was kicked off a flight in October, according to the attorney representing the woman.
The air carriers were supposed to respond to the Vermont Human Rights Commission by Monday, but instead were granted an extension and have until Dec. 14 to respond, according to Elizabeth Boepple, the attorney who is representing Emily Gillette of New Mexico.
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The air carriers were supposed to respond to the Vermont Human Rights Commission by Monday, but instead were granted an extension and have until Dec. 14 to respond, according to Elizabeth Boepple, the attorney who is representing Emily Gillette of New Mexico.
click to read more...
A little common sense (The Mountain Press)
Public breastfeeding OK if it's done with some privacy, sensitivity
It's not so much that people are offended by the very act of breastfeeding in public. It's that a few mothers just don't know how to do it discreetly. Those who make a production out of it and seem to want to attract attention are making it difficult for those who respect privacy and realize the sensitive nature of such an act.
It's funny how things can get quickly out of hand. A woman was ordered off an airplane recently for breastfeeding her daughter openly. Now that's become a rallying point for women all over. Several airports, including the one in Nashville, saw protests by women who object to what the airplane personnel did.
click to read more...
It's not so much that people are offended by the very act of breastfeeding in public. It's that a few mothers just don't know how to do it discreetly. Those who make a production out of it and seem to want to attract attention are making it difficult for those who respect privacy and realize the sensitive nature of such an act.
It's funny how things can get quickly out of hand. A woman was ordered off an airplane recently for breastfeeding her daughter openly. Now that's become a rallying point for women all over. Several airports, including the one in Nashville, saw protests by women who object to what the airplane personnel did.
click to read more...
Lawyer: Airline using 'avoidance tactics' (Bennington Banner)
MANCHESTER — Manchester lawyer Elizabeth Boepple, representing a woman who filed civil rights charges against Delta/Freedom airlines, issued a press release Monday morning intended to draw attention to what she calls "avoidance tactics" on the part of Delta and Freedom Airlines. Boepple is representing Emily Gillette, the mother booted off a the airplane in Burlington after a dispute involving the way she breastfed her child.
The statement, released by the Manchester firm of Witten, Woolmington, Campbell, and Boepple, announced that Delta and Freedom Airlines had failed to meet Monday's deadline to file an answer to Gillette's complaint that charges the airlines with violating her civil right to breastfeed her daughter. Gillette, a resident of Albuquerque, N.M., was asked to leave an Oct. 13 flight out of Burlington after she refused a Freedom Airlines flight attendant's demands to cover her 22-month-old daughter with a blanket while she breast-fed.
click to read more...
The statement, released by the Manchester firm of Witten, Woolmington, Campbell, and Boepple, announced that Delta and Freedom Airlines had failed to meet Monday's deadline to file an answer to Gillette's complaint that charges the airlines with violating her civil right to breastfeed her daughter. Gillette, a resident of Albuquerque, N.M., was asked to leave an Oct. 13 flight out of Burlington after she refused a Freedom Airlines flight attendant's demands to cover her 22-month-old daughter with a blanket while she breast-fed.
click to read more...
Keeping the Skies Safe from Nipples and Muslims (CounterPunch)
The unwarranted removal of passengers from a domestic air flight has triggered an investigation, a discrimination complaint and a national protest.
click to read more...
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Putting Breast Milk to Good Use (Time Magazine)
A Minnesota mom finds a way to send surplus milk to HIV/AIDS orphans in Africa
Geny Cassady's daughter Madison was born last November with a congenital heart defect and needed surgery at five days old. While she was hospitalized, nurses encouraged Cassady to pump and store breast milk for her daughter's recovery. But that time never came — Madison died of a pulmonary embolism less than two weeks later. For a month, Cassady couldn't look at the containers in her freezer because the sight of the unused milk was too hard to bear. "It wasa very difficult time," she says. Her husband, Bill, finally poured them down a sink drain while she was out.
The Cassadys didn't know of any other choice; doctors and nurses at the hospital hadn't offered any alternatives other than disposing of it. But now a program named for their daughter offers a way for mothers who have lost children to donate their milk in an effort to help some of the world's most vulnerable children. The Madison Cassady Program is a part of the larger International Breast Milk Project, which helps feed children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Africa with surplus breast milk from mothers in the U.S.
click to read more...
Geny Cassady's daughter Madison was born last November with a congenital heart defect and needed surgery at five days old. While she was hospitalized, nurses encouraged Cassady to pump and store breast milk for her daughter's recovery. But that time never came — Madison died of a pulmonary embolism less than two weeks later. For a month, Cassady couldn't look at the containers in her freezer because the sight of the unused milk was too hard to bear. "It wasa very difficult time," she says. Her husband, Bill, finally poured them down a sink drain while she was out.
The Cassadys didn't know of any other choice; doctors and nurses at the hospital hadn't offered any alternatives other than disposing of it. But now a program named for their daughter offers a way for mothers who have lost children to donate their milk in an effort to help some of the world's most vulnerable children. The Madison Cassady Program is a part of the larger International Breast Milk Project, which helps feed children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Africa with surplus breast milk from mothers in the U.S.
click to read more...
Delta Airlines Joins 21st Century (The Nation)
The Nation -- I'm happy to report some insta-progress on the Delta Air Lines breast-feeding scandal, which I've been chronicling hereat the Notion. For those who've been out of the loop: a mother (in crunchy Vermont!) was thrown off a plane for the dire national security breach of nursing her baby. A remarkable number of people -- over 20,000 -- signed a petition by MomsRising, an online mothers' political group (an excerpt from the founders' new book, by the way, recently appeared in the Nation). Countless numbers of people were inspired to call Delta about the incident, and many also participated in protests and "nurse-ins" at Delta terminals across the land. Last week Delta issued an apology, as well as chiding its subsidiary, Freedom Airlines, which operated the plane from which the lady was so rudely escorted. Here's Delta's morsel of holiday crow: "Delta Air Lines supports a mother's right to breastfeed her baby onboard our aircraft. We regret the decision to remove the passenger from Flight 6160 as it was not in keeping with Delta's high service standards, and we are coordinating with Freedom Airlines to ensure that they deliver the level of service we expect for all of our customers."
click to read more...
click to read more...
Time to support breast-feeding (Chicago Sun Times)
Breast is best, didn't you know? But don't show those precious breasts in public, or else.
It seems that women just can't win when it comes to their breasts. Last week, a nationwide "nurse-in" took place to protest a flight attendant who had a breast-feeding mom thrown off a plane for refusing to cover up. Emily Gillette was seated with her husband during a three-hour delay on a flight out of Burlington, Vt. When asked by a flight attendant to cover herself with a blanket while she breast-fed her daughter, Gillette refused. She and her family were escorted off the plane and rebooked on a different airline the next morning.
Women everywhere were outraged and a "nurse-in" in response took place last Tuesday. At 10 a.m., impassioned women gathered at Delta Airlines ticket counters across the country to show their support for Gillette and every woman's right to breast-feed her child.
click to read more...
It seems that women just can't win when it comes to their breasts. Last week, a nationwide "nurse-in" took place to protest a flight attendant who had a breast-feeding mom thrown off a plane for refusing to cover up. Emily Gillette was seated with her husband during a three-hour delay on a flight out of Burlington, Vt. When asked by a flight attendant to cover herself with a blanket while she breast-fed her daughter, Gillette refused. She and her family were escorted off the plane and rebooked on a different airline the next morning.
Women everywhere were outraged and a "nurse-in" in response took place last Tuesday. At 10 a.m., impassioned women gathered at Delta Airlines ticket counters across the country to show their support for Gillette and every woman's right to breast-feed her child.
click to read more...
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Lampert Smith: UW rethinks its stadium lactation (Wisconsin State Journal)
I'm pleased to announce a breakthrough in the "breast wars" at Camp Randall Stadium.
There will be no need to strap a nursing bra on the statue of Barry Alvarez, paint nipples on the white footballs on that ugly sculpture outside the stadium, or stage a "nurse-in" at the Capital One Bowl. (Although it was fun hearing all of your ideas, really!)
The folks in the UW Athletic Department have heard the complaints loud and clear about the nursing mom who was turned away from the first-aid station where she had hoped to use her breast pump. They have apologized profusely for not doing a better job helping her find one of Camp Randall's seven new family restrooms. (The upper deck, where that mom has been a season- ticket holder for many years, doesn't have one.)
And they want to make it very, very clear that they didn't kick her out of the stadium for breast-feeding.
click to read more...
There will be no need to strap a nursing bra on the statue of Barry Alvarez, paint nipples on the white footballs on that ugly sculpture outside the stadium, or stage a "nurse-in" at the Capital One Bowl. (Although it was fun hearing all of your ideas, really!)
The folks in the UW Athletic Department have heard the complaints loud and clear about the nursing mom who was turned away from the first-aid station where she had hoped to use her breast pump. They have apologized profusely for not doing a better job helping her find one of Camp Randall's seven new family restrooms. (The upper deck, where that mom has been a season- ticket holder for many years, doesn't have one.)
And they want to make it very, very clear that they didn't kick her out of the stadium for breast-feeding.
click to read more...
No modesty (Patriot News)
Whatever happened to modesty? Why do women think, just because they're nursing a baby, that they can let it hang out?
Not everyone wants to look at a breast. I'm tired of being bombarded with naked bodies and breasts.
click to read more...
Not everyone wants to look at a breast. I'm tired of being bombarded with naked bodies and breasts.
click to read more...
Decriminalizing breast feeding (Baltimore Sun)
If there is one area of human behavior into which legislatures should not have to intrude, it would surely be breast feeding.
Nature's brilliant plan for nourishing infants that also helps support tiny immune systems is regarded by medical experts as superior to any substitute method and thus widely encouraged.
Yet more than 40 states, including Maryland, have enacted statutes to affirmatively assert a mother's right to nurse her child in public or at least to exempt her from criminal prosecution under indecency laws. A more sweeping proposal is also pending at the federal level.
Is this necessary? It shouldn't be. But the genesis of such laws was made clear enough recently when a nursing mother was put off a Delta Air Lines flight in Vermont because she refused to put a blanket over her child's head.
click to read more...
Nature's brilliant plan for nourishing infants that also helps support tiny immune systems is regarded by medical experts as superior to any substitute method and thus widely encouraged.
Yet more than 40 states, including Maryland, have enacted statutes to affirmatively assert a mother's right to nurse her child in public or at least to exempt her from criminal prosecution under indecency laws. A more sweeping proposal is also pending at the federal level.
Is this necessary? It shouldn't be. But the genesis of such laws was made clear enough recently when a nursing mother was put off a Delta Air Lines flight in Vermont because she refused to put a blanket over her child's head.
click to read more...
Breastfeeding simply requires some modesty (Statesman Journal)
This is regarding the article about the woman removed from the plane because she refused to cover herself while nursing her child.
I know that breastfeeding is natural and wonderful for both mother and child, and I agree. However, it is not unreasonable that the woman cover herself for her modesty and those around her.
click to read more...
I know that breastfeeding is natural and wonderful for both mother and child, and I agree. However, it is not unreasonable that the woman cover herself for her modesty and those around her.
click to read more...
Engage in some modesty when breast-feeding (The Leaf-Chronicle)
After reading an article in the paper titled "Nursing moms support women taken off plane," I was simply appalled.
This woman was taken off the plane not because she was breast-feeding but because she refused to cover up.
I support breast-feeding to the fullest. I have three children of my own, and I breast-fed all of them up to one year old, but never did I feel the need to bare myself to the public.
When I breast-fed in a public place, I always covered up, for my own comfort as much as for everyone else's comfort.
click to read more...
This woman was taken off the plane not because she was breast-feeding but because she refused to cover up.
I support breast-feeding to the fullest. I have three children of my own, and I breast-fed all of them up to one year old, but never did I feel the need to bare myself to the public.
When I breast-fed in a public place, I always covered up, for my own comfort as much as for everyone else's comfort.
click to read more...
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Rep. Maloney Hails Nurse-In at Delta Ticket Counter (press release)
NEW YORK, NY – U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-Manhattan, Queens) hailed the breastfeeding advocates and new mothers who staged nurse-ins at the Delta Airlines ticket counters at JFK Airport and other airports around the country earlier today. The advocates and new moms initiated the nurse-ins after Delta Airlines employees removed a nursing mother and her family from one of its flights earlier this month.
“I commend the women who are out at airports all over the country today to help make sure that women can breastfeed if they choose to,” said Rep. Maloney. “Breastfeeding is healthy and natural and women who choose to breastfeed their children should not be discouraged, regardless if they are at home, at work or on an airplane. This incident again shows that we need to do more to back women who choose to breastfeed in this country -- which is exactly what my legislation, the Breastfeeding Promotion Act, would do.”
click to read more...
“I commend the women who are out at airports all over the country today to help make sure that women can breastfeed if they choose to,” said Rep. Maloney. “Breastfeeding is healthy and natural and women who choose to breastfeed their children should not be discouraged, regardless if they are at home, at work or on an airplane. This incident again shows that we need to do more to back women who choose to breastfeed in this country -- which is exactly what my legislation, the Breastfeeding Promotion Act, would do.”
click to read more...
Metro moms stage 'nurse-in' protest (The Detroit News Online)
Airline's treatment of woman draws ire
ROMULUS -- Ten moms, a grandma and a contingent of diaper-clad rabble rousers staged a "nurse-in" at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Tuesday as part of a nationwide protest against the treatment of a nursing mother aboard a plane.
Emily Gillette and her family were escorted off a plane departing from Burlington, Vt., on Oct. 13 after she refused to cover up while nursing her 22-month-old toddler during a flight on Freedom Airlines, a contractor for Delta Air Lines.
Mothers across the country are buzzing about the incident on Internet sites like BloggingBaby.com and Motheringdotcommune.
The grassroots protests, with no identifiable leadership, occurred at 10 a.m. at Delta ticket counters nationwide.
click to read more...
ROMULUS -- Ten moms, a grandma and a contingent of diaper-clad rabble rousers staged a "nurse-in" at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Tuesday as part of a nationwide protest against the treatment of a nursing mother aboard a plane.
Emily Gillette and her family were escorted off a plane departing from Burlington, Vt., on Oct. 13 after she refused to cover up while nursing her 22-month-old toddler during a flight on Freedom Airlines, a contractor for Delta Air Lines.
Mothers across the country are buzzing about the incident on Internet sites like BloggingBaby.com and Motheringdotcommune.
The grassroots protests, with no identifiable leadership, occurred at 10 a.m. at Delta ticket counters nationwide.
click to read more...
Breast-feeding debacle damages Delta (Berkshire Eagle)
Last week, dozens of self-proclaimed "lactivists" held protests at Delta Air Lines ticket counters throughout the United States. The women nursed children in a show of support for Emily Gillette, a New Mexico woman who, on Oct. 13, was ordered off a Freedom Airlines flight about to take off from Burlington International Airport in Burlington, Vt. Gillette's offense was not making a bomb threat or even carrying a forbidden bottle of shampoo aboard the plane, a Delta subsidiary. Rather, she and her family were removed from the flight by a flight attendant who took offense at the woman for openly breast-feeding her 22-month-old daughter during a delay.
click to read more...
click to read more...
Breastfeeding campaign offers legitimate advice (Elmira Star-Gazette)
Kathleen Costello wrote in an Oct. 2 column that the "use of scare-tactics and negative advertising is inaccurate and irresponsible," in regard to the breastfeeding campaign. This campaign is not irresponsible. Let's take the in-your-face, anti-smoking campaign. It goes to extremes to get the message across that you should stop smoking. Where are the complaints about the smoking campaign?
click to read more...
click to read more...
Friday, November 24, 2006
Mothers Rally to Back Breast-Feeding Rights (WashingtonPost.com)
Karen Gral knows how difficult it is to travel with small children: standing in long lines with squirming toddlers, dealing with new security rules that prohibit liquids -- including some baby foods -- and lugging strollers, car seats and diaper bags through airports.
For her, the finish line is sitting on the airplane and breast-feeding her hungry and worn-out 16-month-old to sleep.
So when the Alexandria mother of two heard that a family was kicked off a Delta Air Lines flight last month because the mother refused to cover her baby with a blanket while breast-feeding, Gral decided to join 70 people at Reagan National Airport yesterday for a "nurse-in" in front of the Delta ticket counter. Similar protests were held at more than 30 airports around the country, including Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, where 62 people gathered in support of Arlington native Emily Gillette.
click to read more...
For her, the finish line is sitting on the airplane and breast-feeding her hungry and worn-out 16-month-old to sleep.
So when the Alexandria mother of two heard that a family was kicked off a Delta Air Lines flight last month because the mother refused to cover her baby with a blanket while breast-feeding, Gral decided to join 70 people at Reagan National Airport yesterday for a "nurse-in" in front of the Delta ticket counter. Similar protests were held at more than 30 airports around the country, including Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, where 62 people gathered in support of Arlington native Emily Gillette.
click to read more...
Mums begin 'lactivism' after airline bans breastfeeding (The Australian)
IT'S ironic that since a lot of US airlines - airlines everywhere, actually - treat you like cattle that they also might get a bit squeamish over the thought of a dairy.
But last month a nursing mother was ejected from a plane about to take off in Vermont because she was trying to breastfeed her baby
The extraordinary tale has sparked a discrimination complaint from the mother, Emily Gillette, and a huge embarrassment for the airline, Delta. The brouhaha here has also sparked a form of protest being dubbed "lactivism".
Over the past week there's been rolling breastfeeding sit-ins where dozens of nursing mothers position themselves in front of the Delta airline counters in protest and, like maternal gunslingers, unleash their bosoms and latch on their babies.
click to read more...
But last month a nursing mother was ejected from a plane about to take off in Vermont because she was trying to breastfeed her baby
The extraordinary tale has sparked a discrimination complaint from the mother, Emily Gillette, and a huge embarrassment for the airline, Delta. The brouhaha here has also sparked a form of protest being dubbed "lactivism".
Over the past week there's been rolling breastfeeding sit-ins where dozens of nursing mothers position themselves in front of the Delta airline counters in protest and, like maternal gunslingers, unleash their bosoms and latch on their babies.
click to read more...
Discretion and tolerance (Lowell Sun)
No one with any common sense is going to argue against a mother breast-feeding her baby. Numerous studies have shown that breast milk gives infants lasting protection against infections, colds, flu and pneumonia, is believed to help prevent asthma and may reduce the likelihood of obesity.
Breast milk is the preferred nourishment for a child's first six months of life, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
However, common sense also suggests that mothers use discretion while nursing since a part of their anatomy the law normally requires clothed must be uncovered to breast-feed. Unexpectedly seeing a mother nursing her baby can make some people uncomfortable.
click to read more...
Breast milk is the preferred nourishment for a child's first six months of life, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
However, common sense also suggests that mothers use discretion while nursing since a part of their anatomy the law normally requires clothed must be uncovered to breast-feed. Unexpectedly seeing a mother nursing her baby can make some people uncomfortable.
click to read more...
My Tits and My Toddler Fly the UNfriendly Skies (The Huffington Post)
For the second time in less than a week I will board a now infamous Delta partner flight and lift up my shirt. Some passengers will turn away in disgust. Some passengers will nod in approval. Some passengers will do a double take in the hopes of seeing some action. And while I breastfeed, some passengers will dare to tell my daughter to eat her meal in the toilet.
In the end, it's not the passengers I worry about- I can handle those of you sitting alongside me in coach. I'm wondering if the power hungry flight attendants will see my breasts as a threat to national security or a disruption to the carrier. Will I, or won't I, be allowed to feed my 19-month old on a plane? Just what exactly is Delta's position on public breastfeeding?
click to read more...
In the end, it's not the passengers I worry about- I can handle those of you sitting alongside me in coach. I'm wondering if the power hungry flight attendants will see my breasts as a threat to national security or a disruption to the carrier. Will I, or won't I, be allowed to feed my 19-month old on a plane? Just what exactly is Delta's position on public breastfeeding?
click to read more...
Gov't stands firm on revised IRR of "Milk Code" (Phillipine Information Agency)
San Fernando City, La Union (23 November) -- The Philippines strongly supports and promotes breastfeeding to achieve a healthier nutrition rate of infants from the day of birth and onwards, and the government also adheres to reasonably strict standards for the entry of infant milk formula products here in the country.
Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III, being the point person, stood firm on defending the Philippine government as well as the revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Executive Order 51, otherwise known as the Milk Code.
The IRR, Duque explained was meant to "regulate indiscriminate advertising and promotion of products not founded on scientific evidence and studies."
click to read more...
Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III, being the point person, stood firm on defending the Philippine government as well as the revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Executive Order 51, otherwise known as the Milk Code.
The IRR, Duque explained was meant to "regulate indiscriminate advertising and promotion of products not founded on scientific evidence and studies."
click to read more...
Backing breast-feeding (The Durnago Herald)
Protest at airport for ex-FLC student kicked off flight
Two dozen nursing mothers, some with other progeny in tow, gathered Tuesday morning at the Delta Air Lines ticket counter at the Durango-La Plata County Airport to protest the expulsion of a nursing mother from a Delta plane in South Burlington, Vt., last month.
Jennifer Smith breast-feeds her son Elliot during a "nurse-in" Tuesday at the Durango-La Plata County Airport. Smith was one of two dozen mothers who were protesting Delta Air Lines’ dismissal of Emily Gillette from an Oct. 13 flight for breast-feeding her baby on the plane.
Concurrent protests, called "nurse-ins," were planned Tuesday at more than 30 airports from Anchorage to Atlanta that Delta serves.
click to read more...
Two dozen nursing mothers, some with other progeny in tow, gathered Tuesday morning at the Delta Air Lines ticket counter at the Durango-La Plata County Airport to protest the expulsion of a nursing mother from a Delta plane in South Burlington, Vt., last month.
Jennifer Smith breast-feeds her son Elliot during a "nurse-in" Tuesday at the Durango-La Plata County Airport. Smith was one of two dozen mothers who were protesting Delta Air Lines’ dismissal of Emily Gillette from an Oct. 13 flight for breast-feeding her baby on the plane.
Concurrent protests, called "nurse-ins," were planned Tuesday at more than 30 airports from Anchorage to Atlanta that Delta serves.
click to read more...
Cover up, you offend me (Electric Newspaper)
THE flight attendant felt offended when Ms Emily Gillette of New Mexico breast-fed her 22-month-old daughter.
Protesting mum Velisha Lukovic holds her son Julien at Fort Lauderdale airport, Florida. -- REUTERS
Cover yourself with a blanket, she told Ms Gillette.
When the young mother refused, she was ordered off a Freedom Airlines flight that was about to leave Burlington International Airport.
Ms Gillette, who has filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission, was sitting in a window seat next to her husband when the incident took place last month.
click to read more...
Protesting mum Velisha Lukovic holds her son Julien at Fort Lauderdale airport, Florida. -- REUTERS
Cover yourself with a blanket, she told Ms Gillette.
When the young mother refused, she was ordered off a Freedom Airlines flight that was about to leave Burlington International Airport.
Ms Gillette, who has filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission, was sitting in a window seat next to her husband when the incident took place last month.
click to read more...
Critics of nursing in public reveal hypocrisy (USA Today)
I am part of a small percentage of women who are commercial airline pilots. I am also a wife, mother and strong supporter and advocate of mothers who choose to breast-feed their children ("Nursing mom files complaint against airlines," News, Nov. 17).
In all my years of traveling about in public, I have never seen a nursing mother willingly expose herself to feed her child.
Yet, I can spot a nursing mother and child from across a crowded room because I am drawn to the beauty of the bonding between mother and child. I often flash a smile of support or offer words of encouragement because I know firsthand that nursing does not always come naturally or easily for all who attempt it — yet that mother has chosen to take the healthier choice of nourishing her child.
click to read more...
In all my years of traveling about in public, I have never seen a nursing mother willingly expose herself to feed her child.
Yet, I can spot a nursing mother and child from across a crowded room because I am drawn to the beauty of the bonding between mother and child. I often flash a smile of support or offer words of encouragement because I know firsthand that nursing does not always come naturally or easily for all who attempt it — yet that mother has chosen to take the healthier choice of nourishing her child.
click to read more...
Lactivists fight for the right to breastfeed (Guardian Unlimited)
America has been swept by an unusual protest movement. It is called lactivism and involves hundreds of women taking to the check-in counters of US airports to demonstrate the right to breastfeed their babies.
About 900 breastfeeding women demonstrated at 35 US airports on Tuesday outside check-in counters for Delta, one of the biggest domestic carriers. Groups of 30 or more women assembled by the counters, sat in a circle and began nursing their babies, some wearing "Got breastmilk?" T-shirts and their children in ones saying "Smart, cute and healthy. Thanks to Mom's milk."
click to read more...
About 900 breastfeeding women demonstrated at 35 US airports on Tuesday outside check-in counters for Delta, one of the biggest domestic carriers. Groups of 30 or more women assembled by the counters, sat in a circle and began nursing their babies, some wearing "Got breastmilk?" T-shirts and their children in ones saying "Smart, cute and healthy. Thanks to Mom's milk."
click to read more...
Mothers stage 'nurse-in' protest (MSNBC.com)
Nursing moms take to airports in show of solidarity
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - Babies at the breast, protest signs close by, nursing mothers staged "nurse-in" demonstrations in airports across the country Tuesday, rallying behind a woman ordered off a plane for breast-feeding her daughter too openly.
"I truly hope it does get the message across," said Becky Fontana, 29, nursing her four-month-old daughter as she sat cross-legged on the terminal floor at Burlington International Airport.
click to read more...
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - Babies at the breast, protest signs close by, nursing mothers staged "nurse-in" demonstrations in airports across the country Tuesday, rallying behind a woman ordered off a plane for breast-feeding her daughter too openly.
"I truly hope it does get the message across," said Becky Fontana, 29, nursing her four-month-old daughter as she sat cross-legged on the terminal floor at Burlington International Airport.
click to read more...
Nursing moms rally at airports (Seattle Post Intelligencer)
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Carrying signs with slogans such as "Best in-flight meal ever," scores of mothers breast-fed their babies at airports around the country Tuesday in a show of support for a woman who was ordered off a plane for nursing her daughter without covering up.
"It's about raising consciousness about our culture's sexualization of the breast. Breast-feeding needs to be supported wherever and whenever it happens. Babies don't know the meaning of `wait,'" said Chelsea Clark, 31, wearing a "Got breast milk?" T-shirt as she nursed her 9-week-old son at the Burlington airport.
click to read more...
"It's about raising consciousness about our culture's sexualization of the breast. Breast-feeding needs to be supported wherever and whenever it happens. Babies don't know the meaning of `wait,'" said Chelsea Clark, 31, wearing a "Got breast milk?" T-shirt as she nursed her 9-week-old son at the Burlington airport.
click to read more...
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving
My morning has gotten away from me, so I will have to save my updates for this weekend.
I wish all a wonderful Thanksgiving - may your holiday be filled with family and friends and love, and may your travels be safe and uneventful.
I wish all a wonderful Thanksgiving - may your holiday be filled with family and friends and love, and may your travels be safe and uneventful.
Let nursing mothers be (Boston Globe)
BREAST-FEEDING is back in the news, thanks to a flight attendant for a small regional airline who ordered a nursing mother off a plane in Vermont last month. Advocates of this healthful practice rallied around, and yesterday chose one of the busiest airline travel days to stage "nurse-in" protests at airports around the country.
click to read more...
click to read more...
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Logan Airport Nurse-In
So, the newswires are all afire with the reports of nurse-ins across the country. Overall, the coverage has been fair, even favorable.
My daughter and I attended the nurse-in at Boston's Logan Airport this morning. Up until this very morning, I wasn't sure if we were going to be attending; the Peanut has been having a very emotional couple of weeks, grieving quite deeply and in a simultaneously complicated and straightforward manner for the loss of a beloved friend and family member. This morning, however, the Boston Globe covered the planned nurse-ins on the front page, and when I told my three year old about it, she was thrilled.
"But why did they make that mama get off the plane?" she asked. "Because the flight attendant didn't like breastfeeding," I explained. "Will they make me get off the plane the next we go on it?" she asked with great concern. Despite being weaned, once a breastfed child, always a breastfed child in her mind. "That's why the people are going to the airports, lovebug - because they don't want to see this happen to anybody else." She nodded solemnly and said, "I want to give the bag the boot* - let's go."
So off we went. There was a decent turnout, I think, considering that the nurse-in was organized only a week ago, that Logan is very difficult to get to right now and that the event was scheduled for 10 AM, which meant fighting commuter traffic while managing babes (a fact which many non-attendees cited as the reason for not going). There was a total of seven mothers and eight children, and everyone was peaceful and cheerful. The media attention was a bit overwhelming, to say the least. We had many folks smile and give us friendly waves as the walked past; a pair of men cheered, "Way to go, ladies!"
Overall, it was a great experience, and I'm glad we made the effort to get out and attend.
* A reference to the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition-sponsored rally we attended this spring
My daughter and I attended the nurse-in at Boston's Logan Airport this morning. Up until this very morning, I wasn't sure if we were going to be attending; the Peanut has been having a very emotional couple of weeks, grieving quite deeply and in a simultaneously complicated and straightforward manner for the loss of a beloved friend and family member. This morning, however, the Boston Globe covered the planned nurse-ins on the front page, and when I told my three year old about it, she was thrilled.
"But why did they make that mama get off the plane?" she asked. "Because the flight attendant didn't like breastfeeding," I explained. "Will they make me get off the plane the next we go on it?" she asked with great concern. Despite being weaned, once a breastfed child, always a breastfed child in her mind. "That's why the people are going to the airports, lovebug - because they don't want to see this happen to anybody else." She nodded solemnly and said, "I want to give the bag the boot* - let's go."
So off we went. There was a decent turnout, I think, considering that the nurse-in was organized only a week ago, that Logan is very difficult to get to right now and that the event was scheduled for 10 AM, which meant fighting commuter traffic while managing babes (a fact which many non-attendees cited as the reason for not going). There was a total of seven mothers and eight children, and everyone was peaceful and cheerful. The media attention was a bit overwhelming, to say the least. We had many folks smile and give us friendly waves as the walked past; a pair of men cheered, "Way to go, ladies!"
Overall, it was a great experience, and I'm glad we made the effort to get out and attend.
* A reference to the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition-sponsored rally we attended this spring
Bless The Moms Who Breast-Feed In Public Places (The Huffington Post)
As I write this, mothers are staging breast feed-ins at Delta Air Lines ticket counters all over the U.S.
They are protesting the actions of a Delta-affiliated airline's flight attendant, who removed a passenger who was (gasp) breast-feeding her baby.
Even though Delta has formally apologized, the symbolism involved in the removal of this passenger from the aircraft still sticks in my craw.
I am male, and I don't think I was breast-fed n public. But still:...
click to read more...
They are protesting the actions of a Delta-affiliated airline's flight attendant, who removed a passenger who was (gasp) breast-feeding her baby.
Even though Delta has formally apologized, the symbolism involved in the removal of this passenger from the aircraft still sticks in my craw.
I am male, and I don't think I was breast-fed n public. But still:...
click to read more...
Breastfeeding and probiotics may protect children from allergies, finds NoE (Cordis News)
The Network of Excellence (NoE) GA2LEN has presented evidence that breastfeeding, early diet and probiotics may have an effect on the development of allergies in children.
GA2LEN is funded under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) and brings together 26 research centres from around Europe, as well as the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients' Associations (EFA).
The number of people suffering from allergies has increased dramatically over the past few decades. The phenomenon is particularly evident in children, with one in three now suffering from some sort of allergy. GA2LEN predicts that by 2015, half of all Europeans will have some sort of allergy.
click to read more...
GA2LEN is funded under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) and brings together 26 research centres from around Europe, as well as the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients' Associations (EFA).
The number of people suffering from allergies has increased dramatically over the past few decades. The phenomenon is particularly evident in children, with one in three now suffering from some sort of allergy. GA2LEN predicts that by 2015, half of all Europeans will have some sort of allergy.
click to read more...
Breastfeeding moms protest discrimination by airline (WBIR.com)
Breastfeeding mothers will conduct "nurse-ins" today against Delta Air Lines at more than a dozen U.S. airports.
click to read more...
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Local group urging support of measure on breast-feeding (The Transcript)
NORTH ADAMS — Berkshire Nursing Families might not be participating in one of the 19 planned "nurse-ins" scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. at airports around the country — but the group is encouraging people to support a bill that protects the right of women to breast-feed in public.
"Massachusetts is one of only five states not to have legislation protecting nursing mothers in public," Rosalie Girard, director of Berkshire Nursing Families, said on Monday.
click to read more...
"Massachusetts is one of only five states not to have legislation protecting nursing mothers in public," Rosalie Girard, director of Berkshire Nursing Families, said on Monday.
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Milk bank experiecing shortage, needs donors (KVUE.com)
The Mothers' Milk Bank of Austin says it needs donors to help overcome a critical shortage
click to read more...
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A Breast Feeding Offensive(The National Ledger)
I’ve often thought that there are people in this world who spend their days walking around just looking for something to get offended about. An article in the November 17, 2006 edition of USA Today has confirmed that notion. The most inoffensive and natural act a person can perform, that of a mother nursing her baby, caused a young family to be removed from a Delta Airlines (operated by Freedom Airlines) flight back on October Thirteenth. Why? Because a flight attendant found it offensive.
click to read more...
click to read more...
Nursing Moms Protest After Breastfeeding Mom Taken Off the Plane (Toronto Daily News)
Nursing mothers, along with their babies, staged protests around the U.S. airports after a woman was ordered off a plane for breast-feeding her 2-year-old daughter.
Women blocked the Delta Air Lines ticket counter waving signs saying "Don't be lactose intolerant" and "Breasts - Not just for selling cars anymore." Women also plan to breastfeed their infants in front of Delta ticketing counters around the country.
click to read more...
Women blocked the Delta Air Lines ticket counter waving signs saying "Don't be lactose intolerant" and "Breasts - Not just for selling cars anymore." Women also plan to breastfeed their infants in front of Delta ticketing counters around the country.
click to read more...
Women To Promote Breast-Feeding At Airports (NBC30.com)
WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. -- Several women turned out at Bradley Airport Tuesday as part of nationwide protest involving breast-feeding mothers.
Breast-feeding mothers are conducting "nurse-ins" against Delta Air Lines at more than a dozen U.S. airports, including Bradley.
One woman at Bradley, 30 year-old Susan Parker, was breast-feeding her 10-month-old daughter.
click to read more...
Breast-feeding mothers are conducting "nurse-ins" against Delta Air Lines at more than a dozen U.S. airports, including Bradley.
One woman at Bradley, 30 year-old Susan Parker, was breast-feeding her 10-month-old daughter.
click to read more...
Mothers Breast-Feed In Protest (Click On Detroit)
The ejection of a nursing mother from a Delta Air Lines commuter flight last month prompted plans for "nurse-ins" held Tuesday at more than a dozen airports, including Detroit Metropolitan.
Emily Gillette, 27, filed a complaint last week against Delta Air Lines Inc. and Freedom Airlines, which operated the commuter flight for the Atlanta-based carrier, over the Oct. 13 incident at Burlington International Airport. In the complaint, Gillette said she was breast-feeding daughter River, 1, aboard the New York-bound plane when a flight attendant tried to hand her a blanket and told her to cover up.
When Gillette balked, she and her husband were ordered off the plane before takeoff, triggering a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission, a "nurse-in" last week at that airport and now the national protest action, which was scheduled for 10 a.m. local time at 19 airports from Anchorage to Islip, N.Y.
click to read more...
Emily Gillette, 27, filed a complaint last week against Delta Air Lines Inc. and Freedom Airlines, which operated the commuter flight for the Atlanta-based carrier, over the Oct. 13 incident at Burlington International Airport. In the complaint, Gillette said she was breast-feeding daughter River, 1, aboard the New York-bound plane when a flight attendant tried to hand her a blanket and told her to cover up.
When Gillette balked, she and her husband were ordered off the plane before takeoff, triggering a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission, a "nurse-in" last week at that airport and now the national protest action, which was scheduled for 10 a.m. local time at 19 airports from Anchorage to Islip, N.Y.
click to read more...
Will nurse-in protests hurt Delta's stock? (And, should I go?) (Blogging Stocks)
I'm a breastfeeding mama, my little guy is almost 19 months old and not showing any signs of wanting to wean. I nurse him in public whenever it's required (i.e.: whenever he's tired or fussy and a little warm milk will keep the volume down for a bit). Along with lots of other modern moms, I was pretty peeved when I heard the story of Emily Gillette, escorted off a Freedom Airlines flight because she wouldn't put a blanket over her breastfeeding daughter's head. (After a three-hour delay. At 10 p.m. In the window seat. In the second-to-last row. !!)
click to read more...
click to read more...
Louisville mothers stage ‘nurse-in’ protest (The Courier-Journal)
Nursing their babies as holiday travelers passed nearby, nine mothers at Louisville International Airport joined in a national protest Tuesday in support for public breastfeeding.
“Breastfeeding is not normal enough in our society,” said Jenny Claire Kragel, who was holding her 2-month old son, Soren. “And so we are just kind of here to spread the word that breastfeeding is normal and that it is not a crime to do it in public.”
They joined a host of women nationwide who staged protests at more than a dozen airports around the country, after the ejection of a nursing mother from a Delta Air Lines commuter flight in Vermont.
click to read more...
“Breastfeeding is not normal enough in our society,” said Jenny Claire Kragel, who was holding her 2-month old son, Soren. “And so we are just kind of here to spread the word that breastfeeding is normal and that it is not a crime to do it in public.”
They joined a host of women nationwide who staged protests at more than a dozen airports around the country, after the ejection of a nursing mother from a Delta Air Lines commuter flight in Vermont.
click to read more...
Local women join in show of support for breast-feeding mom (WPRI Eyewitness News)
BOSTON Five mothers showed up with their infants today at the Delta Airlines ticket counter at Boston's Logan Airport. They were there to protest the removal of a nursing mother from a Delta commuter flight in Burlington, Vermont.
The so-called "nurse-in" at Logan was one of about a dozen held at airports around the country.
The mothers had not met before in person, but gathered at the airport after word of the New Mexico mother's case spread over Internet message boards.
Ali Crehan Feeney, a certified lactation counselor from Quincy, says she hopes the incident will lead to further action by airlines to protect women's breast feeding rights.
click to read more...
The so-called "nurse-in" at Logan was one of about a dozen held at airports around the country.
The mothers had not met before in person, but gathered at the airport after word of the New Mexico mother's case spread over Internet message boards.
Ali Crehan Feeney, a certified lactation counselor from Quincy, says she hopes the incident will lead to further action by airlines to protect women's breast feeding rights.
click to read more...
Nursing moms take to airports in show of solidarity (Boston.com)
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. --Babies at the breast, nursing mothers staged "nurse-in" protests Tuesday to take up the cause of a woman ordered off a plane for breast-feeding her daughter too openly.
click to read more...
click to read more...
Local Mothers Hold "Nurse-In" At Logan (WBZ Radio)
Five mothers with their infants today gathered at the Delta Airlines ticket counter at Logan Airport. They protested the removal of a nursing mother from a Delta commuter flight in Burlington, Vermont.
The mothers had not met before, but knew where to meet after word of the New Mexico mother's case spread over internet message boards.
click to read more...
The mothers had not met before, but knew where to meet after word of the New Mexico mother's case spread over internet message boards.
click to read more...
Monday, November 20, 2006
Path smoother for breast-feeding moms (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Julie Maness, who twice returned to work while she was breast-feeding, has seen both the good and the bad when it comes to pumping breast milk on the job. The 38-year-old mother of two from Cahokia remembers pumping in a restroom stall following the birth of her older daughter, Molly, now 11.
"It was basically a carpeted warehouse," Maness says. "The bathroom was the best I could do there, so I would take my equipment into a stall and try to pump there and try not to touch anything."
In spite of those conditions, Maness pumped and nursed until Molly was more than 10 months old.
Circumstances were much better after the birth of Cordelia, now 5. Maness had taken a job at Fleishman-Hillard, where she still works as coordinator of accounts receivable. There was no lactation room or official policy for nursing moms, but her supervisors and employer were very supportive, even before her maternity leave.
click to read more...
"It was basically a carpeted warehouse," Maness says. "The bathroom was the best I could do there, so I would take my equipment into a stall and try to pump there and try not to touch anything."
In spite of those conditions, Maness pumped and nursed until Molly was more than 10 months old.
Circumstances were much better after the birth of Cordelia, now 5. Maness had taken a job at Fleishman-Hillard, where she still works as coordinator of accounts receivable. There was no lactation room or official policy for nursing moms, but her supervisors and employer were very supportive, even before her maternity leave.
click to read more...
National 'nurse-in' set to protest treatment of mom (USA Today)
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A national "nurse-in" will be held Tuesday to protest the treatment of a passenger who was kicked off a plane for refusing to cover herself while breast-feeding her baby.
A similar protest, in which mothers sat on the floor near the Delta Airlines counter, breast-fed their babies and held signs, took place at the Burlington International Airport last week.
Chelsea Clark, 31, of Fairfax, said she is using Web message boards to organize a national protest at Delta counters across the country. What happened to Emily Gillette, 27, of Santa Fe, has prompted an "out-swell of outrage," Clark said.
"This is for all of the nursing mothers in the country who felt that way," Clark said. "This is our opportunity to make a statement."
click to read more...
A similar protest, in which mothers sat on the floor near the Delta Airlines counter, breast-fed their babies and held signs, took place at the Burlington International Airport last week.
Chelsea Clark, 31, of Fairfax, said she is using Web message boards to organize a national protest at Delta counters across the country. What happened to Emily Gillette, 27, of Santa Fe, has prompted an "out-swell of outrage," Clark said.
"This is for all of the nursing mothers in the country who felt that way," Clark said. "This is our opportunity to make a statement."
click to read more...
Sunday, November 19, 2006
National event planned over treatment of breast-feeding passenger (Boston Globe)
BURLINGTON, Vt. --A national "nurse-in" will be held Tuesday to protest the treatment of a passenger who was kicked off a plane for refusing to cover her baby while breast-feeding.
A similar protest, in which mothers sat on the floor near the Delta Airlines counter, breast-fed their babies and held signs, took place at the Burlington International Airport last week.
Chelsea Clark, 31, of Fairfax said she is using Web message boards to organize a national protest at Delta counters across the country.
What happened to Emily Gillette, of Santa Fe, N.M., has prompted an "out-swell of outrage," Clark said.
click to read more...
A similar protest, in which mothers sat on the floor near the Delta Airlines counter, breast-fed their babies and held signs, took place at the Burlington International Airport last week.
Chelsea Clark, 31, of Fairfax said she is using Web message boards to organize a national protest at Delta counters across the country.
What happened to Emily Gillette, of Santa Fe, N.M., has prompted an "out-swell of outrage," Clark said.
click to read more...
Irish mums ‘least likely to breast-feed’ (The Sunday Times)
IRISH mothers are the least likely in Europe to breast-feed their babies, according to a European commission survey of 23 countries.
More than two-thirds of Irish mums opt for the bottle, in striking contrast to their counterparts in Scandinavian and Eastern European countries who shun formula milk. The commission’s report on health and food found that just 34% of Irish women breast-fed their babies.
One reason for the low figure is that a high percentage of mothers are embarrassed about feeding their babies in public. Irish restaurants and hotels are still likely to ask breast-feeding mothers to move out of public areas, despite legislation banning the practice.
click to read more...
More than two-thirds of Irish mums opt for the bottle, in striking contrast to their counterparts in Scandinavian and Eastern European countries who shun formula milk. The commission’s report on health and food found that just 34% of Irish women breast-fed their babies.
One reason for the low figure is that a high percentage of mothers are embarrassed about feeding their babies in public. Irish restaurants and hotels are still likely to ask breast-feeding mothers to move out of public areas, despite legislation banning the practice.
click to read more...
Lampert Smith: UW boobs when it comes to breasts (Wisconsin State Journal)
You couldn't invent better Badger credentials than Amy Lee Olson's.
She's had season football tickets since 1988, the dark years of the Don Morton regime, and she worked 14 years at University Ridge Golf Course.
She's a former Badger wrestling cheerleader.
Her husband, Todd, was Bucky Badger from 1989 to 1993. They got engaged at the 1994 Rose Bowl.
Their youngest child, born in August, is named Madison.
Sadly, that littlest Badger is the cause of their beef with UW-Madison - and the reason Todd Olson went to Saturday's UW-Buffalo game with their older child, Cooper, leaving Amy and the baby at home in Maple Grove, Minn.
click to read more...
She's had season football tickets since 1988, the dark years of the Don Morton regime, and she worked 14 years at University Ridge Golf Course.
She's a former Badger wrestling cheerleader.
Her husband, Todd, was Bucky Badger from 1989 to 1993. They got engaged at the 1994 Rose Bowl.
Their youngest child, born in August, is named Madison.
Sadly, that littlest Badger is the cause of their beef with UW-Madison - and the reason Todd Olson went to Saturday's UW-Buffalo game with their older child, Cooper, leaving Amy and the baby at home in Maple Grove, Minn.
click to read more...
Vermont woman helps nurse-in go national (Burlington Free Press)
A Fairfax woman is organizing a "nurse-in" at Delta Air Lines ticket counters across the country in response to hearing that a mother was kicked off a flight after she refused to cover up while breast-feeding.
Chelsea Clark, 31, a mother of two, said she is using Web message boards to communicate with mothers around the country to coordinate the nurse-in, which is slated for Tuesday at 10 a.m.
About 30 parents staged a nurse-in at Burlington International Airport on Wednesday, to show solidarity with Emily Gillette, a New Mexico woman who says she was booted from a flight leaving Burlington on Oct. 13. Gillette said she has filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission, because Vermont law states a mother may breast-feed anywhere in public.
click to read more...
Chelsea Clark, 31, a mother of two, said she is using Web message boards to communicate with mothers around the country to coordinate the nurse-in, which is slated for Tuesday at 10 a.m.
About 30 parents staged a nurse-in at Burlington International Airport on Wednesday, to show solidarity with Emily Gillette, a New Mexico woman who says she was booted from a flight leaving Burlington on Oct. 13. Gillette said she has filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission, because Vermont law states a mother may breast-feed anywhere in public.
click to read more...
NSU grad designs breastfeeding symbol (AberdeenNews.com)
Thanks to a design by Northern State University graduate Matt Daigle of Sioux Falls, the world has an official international breastfeeding icon.
click to read more...
click to read more...
Saturday, November 18, 2006
FLYING BERNIE SANDERS AND THE BREASTFEEDING FREEDOM FIGHTERS (American Chronicle)
It's not your typical Vermont headline:
"Mad Moms Stage Nurse-In"
When I saw that this had happened in the Green Mountain State, my next-door neighbor, I envisioned a horde of maniacal country matriarchs running amok, attempting to heal people against their will, and I wondered why Vermont had to enlist their help for such a mission when it already had Bernie Sanders.
Closer examination, however, revealed that the "mad moms" were a group of nursing (breastfeeding) mothers staging a protest at the Burlington airport by sitting in front of a ticket sales counter with their babies.
They were angered over the recent removal of a nursing mother passenger from a Freedom Airlines Burlington-to-New York flight because the woman had been breastfeeding on board and would not, when pressed to do so by a flight attendant, "discreetly" cover her baby's head with a blanket. When she refused, she was "booted off the plane."
I'm trusting that this was not done in-flight.
click to read more...
"Mad Moms Stage Nurse-In"
When I saw that this had happened in the Green Mountain State, my next-door neighbor, I envisioned a horde of maniacal country matriarchs running amok, attempting to heal people against their will, and I wondered why Vermont had to enlist their help for such a mission when it already had Bernie Sanders.
Closer examination, however, revealed that the "mad moms" were a group of nursing (breastfeeding) mothers staging a protest at the Burlington airport by sitting in front of a ticket sales counter with their babies.
They were angered over the recent removal of a nursing mother passenger from a Freedom Airlines Burlington-to-New York flight because the woman had been breastfeeding on board and would not, when pressed to do so by a flight attendant, "discreetly" cover her baby's head with a blanket. When she refused, she was "booted off the plane."
I'm trusting that this was not done in-flight.
click to read more...
Many St. Louis Companies Accommodate Nursing Mothers (KSDK.com)
Many large St. Louis companies have lunch rooms for their employees. Some even have workout rooms or fitness centers.
But how do local businesses rate when it comes to accommodating the needs of working women who breastfeed?
Here's a look at how some of St. Louis' largest companies accommodate working mothers who nurse.
click to read more...
But how do local businesses rate when it comes to accommodating the needs of working women who breastfeed?
Here's a look at how some of St. Louis' largest companies accommodate working mothers who nurse.
click to read more...
For Hungry Baby, Unfriendly Skies (The Nation)
Just about everyone agrees that women should breastfeed their babies (if possible), but God forbid they ever leave their homes with said babies! The American Pediatric Association recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby's life, saying that the practice reduces diarrhea, ear infections, and meningitis, and may also protect babies against SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), diabetes, obesity and asthma. Breastfeeding is becoming a far more acceptable topic of public discussion -- even, at times, a fashionable one, with numerous celebrity moms, including Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts, Heidi Klum, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, crediting nursing with their speedy post-pregnancy weight loss. Yet some women do, amazingly, still encounter hostility when feeding their infants in a public place.
click to read more...
click to read more...
Friday, November 17, 2006
Ongoing Coverage of Breastfeeding Mom (Mothering.com)
Emily Gillette, the mom making headlines around the word as “the woman kicked off a plane for breastfeeding,” contacted Mothering regarding her experience...
click to read more...
click to read more...
Ex-FLC student kicked off Freedom airline flight for breast-feeding (The Durango Herald)
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - About 30 parents and their children sat in front of an airline counter Wednesday to protest the treatment of a New Mexico woman and former Fort Lewis College student who said she was kicked off an airplane for breast-feeding her child.
Mothers breast-fed their children and held up signs during the "nurse-in."
"I just think it's unbelievable that it happened in 2006, especially in Vermont" said Lora McAllister, a Swanton mother. "It's kind of mind-boggling."
Emily Gillette, 27, who lives in Española, N.M., thinks so, too, her father, Robert Oppenheimer of Cascade Village, said Thursday.
Gillette and her husband were scheduled to meet him and his wife, Michelle, in New York City on Oct. 14, Oppenheimer said in a telephone interview. Another daughter was flying in from London.
click to read more...
Mothers breast-fed their children and held up signs during the "nurse-in."
"I just think it's unbelievable that it happened in 2006, especially in Vermont" said Lora McAllister, a Swanton mother. "It's kind of mind-boggling."
Emily Gillette, 27, who lives in Española, N.M., thinks so, too, her father, Robert Oppenheimer of Cascade Village, said Thursday.
Gillette and her husband were scheduled to meet him and his wife, Michelle, in New York City on Oct. 14, Oppenheimer said in a telephone interview. Another daughter was flying in from London.
click to read more...
Airline responds to breast-feeding incident; actions were 'contrary to the Company's expectations' (Burlington Free Press)
Freedom Airlines has issued a response to an incident last month on one of the airline's flights departing Burlington International Airport. On Oct. 13, a flight attendant asked a breast-feeding mother to cover up, then asked the mother to leave the airplane when the mother refused.
The incident prompted a complaint to the Vermont Human Rights Commission and
a protest at Burlington International Airport this week.
Paul Skellon, Freedom Airlines Vice President of Corporate Communications, issued this response "to concerned citizens who contacted me" after Free Press stories about the issue.
click to read more...
The incident prompted a complaint to the Vermont Human Rights Commission and
a protest at Burlington International Airport this week.
Paul Skellon, Freedom Airlines Vice President of Corporate Communications, issued this response "to concerned citizens who contacted me" after Free Press stories about the issue.
click to read more...
Airlines owe apology to nursing mother (Burlington Free Press)
Three little words that Delta and Freedom airlines need to use in a big way: We are sorry.
The airlines owe Emily Gillette of Santa Fe, N.M., an apology for the priggish response when the young mother began nursing her 22-month-old on a flight departing Oct. 13 from Burlington International Airport.
Gillette, who was seated by the window in the second-to-last row of the plane, said she was embarrassed when a flight attendant asked her to cover up with a blanket as she nursed her child. When Gillette refused, the attendant allegedly told the young mother that she was offended and asked the family to leave the plane.
click to read more...
The airlines owe Emily Gillette of Santa Fe, N.M., an apology for the priggish response when the young mother began nursing her 22-month-old on a flight departing Oct. 13 from Burlington International Airport.
Gillette, who was seated by the window in the second-to-last row of the plane, said she was embarrassed when a flight attendant asked her to cover up with a blanket as she nursed her child. When Gillette refused, the attendant allegedly told the young mother that she was offended and asked the family to leave the plane.
click to read more...
Nursing mom files complaint against airlines (USA Today)
A clash between a nursing mother and a flight attendant has sparked a discrimination complaint, an airline investigation and a grass-roots protest.
Emily Gillette, her husband, Brad; and their then 22-month-old daughter, River, were removed from an Oct. 13 flight from Burlington, Vt., to New York after a flight attendant asked Gillette to cover up while she was breast-feeding the girl.
Freedom Airlines operated the Delta Airlines flight.
Gillette, 27, filed a complaint against both airlines last week with the Vermont Human Rights Commission alleging that the airlineviolated a state law that allows women to breast-feed "in any place of public accommodation." The airlines have until Nov. 27 to respond, Gillette's attorney, Elizabeth Boepple, says.
In a show of support, about 30 mothers and fathers and dozens of children staged a "nurse-in" protest at Burlington Internationals Airport on Wednesday.
click to read more...
Emily Gillette, her husband, Brad; and their then 22-month-old daughter, River, were removed from an Oct. 13 flight from Burlington, Vt., to New York after a flight attendant asked Gillette to cover up while she was breast-feeding the girl.
Freedom Airlines operated the Delta Airlines flight.
Gillette, 27, filed a complaint against both airlines last week with the Vermont Human Rights Commission alleging that the airlineviolated a state law that allows women to breast-feed "in any place of public accommodation." The airlines have until Nov. 27 to respond, Gillette's attorney, Elizabeth Boepple, says.
In a show of support, about 30 mothers and fathers and dozens of children staged a "nurse-in" protest at Burlington Internationals Airport on Wednesday.
click to read more...
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Delta kicks off Mother for Breastfeeding (Blogger News Network)
Delta Airlines has now stepped into the breastfeeding battle by kicking a mother off of one of their planes out of Burlington, Vermont. Emily Gillette, 27, was discreetly feeding her 22 month old daughter near the window in the next-to-the-last row, with her husband in the seat next to her when a puritanical flight attendent gave her a blanket instructing her to cover up. Mrs. Gillette politely refused as she was completely covered up to begin with and then informed the attendent that she had the legal right to feed her hungry baby. Immediately thereafter a ticket agent came to the family and told them that the flight attendent had asked for them to be removed from the plane. They complied without complaint at the time, according to Mrs. Gillette, “out of embarrassment”.
click to read more...
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Triangle Breast Milk Bank Offers Help To Mothers (NBC17.com)
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Most doctors agree that breast milk is the best food for premature babies, but not all mothers can provide it. NBC17 tells you how milk banks are helping to provide this critical gift to families across the country.
Moms helping moms, that's the idea behind milk banks. Piper Davis is a mother of two and a volunteer donor with the WakeMed Mothers' Milk Bank in Raleigh. It's the only milk bank in North Carolina. Davis began donating breast milk in July.
click to read more...
Rest assured, this is a legitimate HMBANA milk bank. :)
Moms helping moms, that's the idea behind milk banks. Piper Davis is a mother of two and a volunteer donor with the WakeMed Mothers' Milk Bank in Raleigh. It's the only milk bank in North Carolina. Davis began donating breast milk in July.
click to read more...
Rest assured, this is a legitimate HMBANA milk bank. :)
Nursing Mothers Speak Out (WCAX-TV)
Dozens of Vermont mothers joined forces to make a bold statement involving their bodies.
"It's ok to breast feed in public," said Carolyn Lukancic, of South Burlington.
Carolyn Lukancic and other breastfeeding mothers participated in a "nurse in" at the Burlington International Airport Wednesday morning.
click to read more...
"It's ok to breast feed in public," said Carolyn Lukancic, of South Burlington.
Carolyn Lukancic and other breastfeeding mothers participated in a "nurse in" at the Burlington International Airport Wednesday morning.
click to read more...
Breast-Feeding Mom Booted From Flight (Channel 3000)
Nursing Mothers Hold Protest At Airline
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. -- A Santa Fe, N.M., woman said she was kicked off an airplane for breast-feeding her child.
The alleged incident has drawn support from about 30 parents and their children.
They sat in front of an airline counter Wednesday in South Burlington, Vt., to protest the treatment of 27-year-old Emily Gillette.
Mothers breast-fed their children and held up signs during the "nurse-in."
click to read more...
This website is also running a survey about the airline's actions - so far 83% of respondents think Delta was wrong to kick this mother and her baby off the flight.
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. -- A Santa Fe, N.M., woman said she was kicked off an airplane for breast-feeding her child.
The alleged incident has drawn support from about 30 parents and their children.
They sat in front of an airline counter Wednesday in South Burlington, Vt., to protest the treatment of 27-year-old Emily Gillette.
Mothers breast-fed their children and held up signs during the "nurse-in."
click to read more...
This website is also running a survey about the airline's actions - so far 83% of respondents think Delta was wrong to kick this mother and her baby off the flight.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Parents protest airline treatment of breast-feeding passenger (Boston Globe)
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. --About 30 parents and their children sat in front of an airline counter Wednesday to protest the treatment of a passenger who said she was kicked off a plane for breast-feeding her child.
Mothers breast-fed their children and held up signs during the "nurse-in."
"I just think it's unbelievable that it happened in 2006, especially in Vermont" said Lora McAllister, a Swanton mother. "It's kind of mind boggling."
Emily Gillette of Santa Fe, N.M., had complained that she was kicked off an airplane because she was nursing her baby.
A complaint against two airlines was filed with the Vermont Human Rights, although Executive Director Robert Appel said he was barred by state law from confirming the complaint. He did say state law allows a mother to breast-feed in public.
click to read more...
Mothers breast-fed their children and held up signs during the "nurse-in."
"I just think it's unbelievable that it happened in 2006, especially in Vermont" said Lora McAllister, a Swanton mother. "It's kind of mind boggling."
Emily Gillette of Santa Fe, N.M., had complained that she was kicked off an airplane because she was nursing her baby.
A complaint against two airlines was filed with the Vermont Human Rights, although Executive Director Robert Appel said he was barred by state law from confirming the complaint. He did say state law allows a mother to breast-feed in public.
click to read more...
Breast-feeding options often determined by employer (The Enquirer)
TULSA, Okla. - Darby Barnett said she quit her job several weeks ago because her boss made it nearly impossible for her to breast-feed her infant daughter.
It was a tough decision to make. Barnett is raising 6-month-old Delainey on her own. But finances became less important when the 24-year-old didn't have enough breast milk for her daughter as a result of being unable to pump at work.
She said her boss wouldn't give her additional breaks.
"I didn't want to have conflict and lose my job, so I wouldn't say anything, and Delainey suffered," she said.
click to read more...
It was a tough decision to make. Barnett is raising 6-month-old Delainey on her own. But finances became less important when the 24-year-old didn't have enough breast milk for her daughter as a result of being unable to pump at work.
She said her boss wouldn't give her additional breaks.
"I didn't want to have conflict and lose my job, so I wouldn't say anything, and Delainey suffered," she said.
click to read more...
'Nurse-in' draws large support for breast-feeding (Burlinton Free Press)
SOUTH BURLINGTON — About 30 mothers and fathers — and dozens of their young children — gathered in front of the Delta Air Lines check-in desk at Burlington International Airport this morning, staging a "nurse-in" to say they were upset that a woman was kicked off a plane for breast-feeding.
The nurse-in, organized by Burlington mother Sharon Panitch, lasted more than an hour, as women nursed their babies, displayed signs, and talked to each other about breast-feeding issues.
"I just think it’s unbelievable that it happened in 2006, especially in Vermont" said Lora McAllister, a mother from Swanton. "It’s kind of mind boggling."
click to read more...
The nurse-in, organized by Burlington mother Sharon Panitch, lasted more than an hour, as women nursed their babies, displayed signs, and talked to each other about breast-feeding issues.
"I just think it’s unbelievable that it happened in 2006, especially in Vermont" said Lora McAllister, a mother from Swanton. "It’s kind of mind boggling."
click to read more...
Mothering's Breastfeeding Symbol Contest
The purpose of an international symbol for breastfeeding is to increase public awareness of breastfeeding, to provide an alternative to the use of a baby bottle image to designate baby friendly areas in public, and to mark breastfeeding friendly facilities.
Of course, breastfeeding does not require a special place and is appropriate—as the Canadian government's slogan says—"anytime, anywhere." The purpose of the symbol is not to segregate breastfeeding, but to help integrate it into society by better accommodating it in public.
For example, sometimes there are no chairs in public, sometimes nowhere to change the baby, or for the mother separated from her baby, nowhere to plug in an electric breast pump. Mothers welcome quiet, private places in public where they can collect themselves and their children. The symbol could designate these kinds of places.
In addition, businesses could use this symbol to designate a lactation room, required now by law in California. Restaurants could use the image to let moms know, "Breastfeeding welcome here." We've already heard from a new airport and a university interested in using the symbol. When you see this new symbol in use, please let us know, and if possible, send us a photo.
click to read more...
Of course, breastfeeding does not require a special place and is appropriate—as the Canadian government's slogan says—"anytime, anywhere." The purpose of the symbol is not to segregate breastfeeding, but to help integrate it into society by better accommodating it in public.
For example, sometimes there are no chairs in public, sometimes nowhere to change the baby, or for the mother separated from her baby, nowhere to plug in an electric breast pump. Mothers welcome quiet, private places in public where they can collect themselves and their children. The symbol could designate these kinds of places.
In addition, businesses could use this symbol to designate a lactation room, required now by law in California. Restaurants could use the image to let moms know, "Breastfeeding welcome here." We've already heard from a new airport and a university interested in using the symbol. When you see this new symbol in use, please let us know, and if possible, send us a photo.
click to read more...
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Seguin mother says she wasn't allowed to breastfeed at theater (MySA.com)
To breastfeed or not to breastfeed — it's a very personal choice. However, a Seguin mother said she was told she couldn't breastfeed her baby at a movie theater there, prompting a heated feud and a call to the police.
click to read more...
click to read more...
Woman alleges she was kicked off Burlington flight for breast-feeding (Burlington Free Press)
A New Mexico woman who was kicked off an airplane departing from Burlington International Airport after she breast-fed her 22-month-old daughter has filed a complaint against two airlines with the Vermont Human Rights Commission.
Emily Gillette, 27, filed a charge with the commission last week -- a step citizens can take before suing in court -- after a Freedom Airlines flight attendant allegedly told Gillette that she offended her, ordering her to cover up.
Robert Appel, executive director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission, said statute prevented him from saying whether the charge had been filed with his office. He did say that breast-feeding is protected under the Public Accommodations Act, meaning that a mother is allowed to breast-feed in public. Gillette's attorney, Elizabeth Boepple, provided documentation to the Free Press of the charge filed with the Human Rights Commission.
click to read more...
Emily Gillette, 27, filed a charge with the commission last week -- a step citizens can take before suing in court -- after a Freedom Airlines flight attendant allegedly told Gillette that she offended her, ordering her to cover up.
Robert Appel, executive director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission, said statute prevented him from saying whether the charge had been filed with his office. He did say that breast-feeding is protected under the Public Accommodations Act, meaning that a mother is allowed to breast-feed in public. Gillette's attorney, Elizabeth Boepple, provided documentation to the Free Press of the charge filed with the Human Rights Commission.
click to read more...
Monday, November 13, 2006
Plea for breastfeeding experience (BBC)
A health authority has launched a search for women who have breastfed children to give advice to new mothers.
NHS Forth Valley said it wanted to encourage women to share their breastfeeding experience at a Stirling-based community support group.
Their role would include giving advice and support to pregnant women before a baby is born, while they are in hospital and then in their own homes.
Experts said breastfeeding could improve the health of mother and baby.
click to read more...
NHS Forth Valley said it wanted to encourage women to share their breastfeeding experience at a Stirling-based community support group.
Their role would include giving advice and support to pregnant women before a baby is born, while they are in hospital and then in their own homes.
Experts said breastfeeding could improve the health of mother and baby.
click to read more...
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Mum's anger at lessons on breastfeeding (Teesdale Merucury)
A MUM has sparked controversy after she was reported as saying she will take her seven-year-old son out of classes in a protest at him being given lessons on childbirth and breastfeeding.
Val Bickley, of Barnard Castle, says her boy is too young to be taught about pregnancy and would rather the emphasis was on reading and writing, rather than childbirth.
And she is reported to have questioned why Startforth Morritt Memorial School, has lessons in breastfeeding, saying "it's disgusting".
But the school has defended its stance, stating the workshops have been successful in the past.
click to read more...
Val Bickley, of Barnard Castle, says her boy is too young to be taught about pregnancy and would rather the emphasis was on reading and writing, rather than childbirth.
And she is reported to have questioned why Startforth Morritt Memorial School, has lessons in breastfeeding, saying "it's disgusting".
But the school has defended its stance, stating the workshops have been successful in the past.
click to read more...
Baby-friendly workplaces (The Kansas City Star)
Flexible scheduling, special changing and quiet rooms all are part of the benefits.
Going back to work after having a baby can be difficult, but workplace programs and options such as lactation rooms and flexible schedules can help ease the transition.
The Kansas City-based National Association of Insurance Commissioners goes even further. An Infants in the Workplace program allows parents to take their babies to work until the baby is six months old.
“It allows the new parent — we have both mothers and fathers — an opportunity to bond with the new baby and spend time with them, while at the same time they are being productive for us,” said Catherine Weatherford, chief executive officer of the association.
In many cases, the parents come back to work sooner than expected because of the opportunity to bring the baby with them, she said.
click to read more...
Going back to work after having a baby can be difficult, but workplace programs and options such as lactation rooms and flexible schedules can help ease the transition.
The Kansas City-based National Association of Insurance Commissioners goes even further. An Infants in the Workplace program allows parents to take their babies to work until the baby is six months old.
“It allows the new parent — we have both mothers and fathers — an opportunity to bond with the new baby and spend time with them, while at the same time they are being productive for us,” said Catherine Weatherford, chief executive officer of the association.
In many cases, the parents come back to work sooner than expected because of the opportunity to bring the baby with them, she said.
click to read more...
Monday, October 30, 2006
Got (extra) milk? At the U of M, it's a warm commodity (Miami Herald)
MINNEAPOLIS - When it comes to feeding newborns, experts agree, there's nothing like mother's milk. But now, a Minneapolis hospital has teamed up with a California biotech company to try to improve on Mother Nature.
The University of Minnesota Medical Center is collecting the "raw material" - breast milk - from nursing mothers who are willing to donate what they don't need.
Then it's shipped to Prolacta Bioscience of Monrovia, Calif., where it's modified and sold back to hospitals for $26 to $43 an ounce.
click to read more...
The University of Minnesota Medical Center is collecting the "raw material" - breast milk - from nursing mothers who are willing to donate what they don't need.
Then it's shipped to Prolacta Bioscience of Monrovia, Calif., where it's modified and sold back to hospitals for $26 to $43 an ounce.
click to read more...
Now's your chance to sound off on WIC changes (Daily Herald)
Proposed changes to food packages for the Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children would increase the variety of available foods while encouraging breast-feeding and reducing sugar, cholesterol and fat.
It's about time, according to the National WIC Association, which has been lobbying for the changes to the 32-year-old program for more than 10 years. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture is looking for input. A public comment period is running through Nov. 6 to give people a chance to weigh in on the proposal, which will affect 8 million women and children from birth to age 5 , including 14,000 in Utah County.
The alterations, if approved, include the addition of fruits and vegetables, baby food, dairy alternatives and beans, while reducing infant formula for breast-fed infants, and eggs, milk and juice for women and children. The proposal also would eliminate juice for all infants and whole milk for participants age 2 years and older.
"The changes are really based on what we know about nutrition science," said Tae Chong, public policy nutritionist for the National WIC Association.
click to read more...
It's about time, according to the National WIC Association, which has been lobbying for the changes to the 32-year-old program for more than 10 years. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture is looking for input. A public comment period is running through Nov. 6 to give people a chance to weigh in on the proposal, which will affect 8 million women and children from birth to age 5 , including 14,000 in Utah County.
The alterations, if approved, include the addition of fruits and vegetables, baby food, dairy alternatives and beans, while reducing infant formula for breast-fed infants, and eggs, milk and juice for women and children. The proposal also would eliminate juice for all infants and whole milk for participants age 2 years and older.
"The changes are really based on what we know about nutrition science," said Tae Chong, public policy nutritionist for the National WIC Association.
click to read more...
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Breast-feeding and the workplace (The Oregonian)
Oregon moms say time and space is often lacking despite recognition of the benefits to their babies
For two years, federal health officials have tried to cajole more moms to breast-feed their infants, launching a nationwide ad campaign that likened the risks of formula feeding, in one TV spot, to riding a mechanical bull while pregnant.
But the campaign has done little to help moms overcome one of the biggest barriers to breast-feeding -- the workplace.
Federal and state lawmakers have declined in recent years to force companies to guarantee female employees a time and place to nurse or express milk at work, with business lobbyists successfully arguing that a one-size-fits-all approach isn't effective in the workplace.
click to read more...
For two years, federal health officials have tried to cajole more moms to breast-feed their infants, launching a nationwide ad campaign that likened the risks of formula feeding, in one TV spot, to riding a mechanical bull while pregnant.
But the campaign has done little to help moms overcome one of the biggest barriers to breast-feeding -- the workplace.
Federal and state lawmakers have declined in recent years to force companies to guarantee female employees a time and place to nurse or express milk at work, with business lobbyists successfully arguing that a one-size-fits-all approach isn't effective in the workplace.
click to read more...
Breast-feeding: Getting employers to latch on (Oregon Live)
Perhaps you read The Sunday Oregonian's Business Section package about breast-feeding accommodations in the workplace. Two Oregon moms, Rosetta Thuresson and Cathy Kemmerer, shared how they tried to balance breast-feeding and work. Rosetta was unsuccessful and actually quit her job to start her own home-based business. Cathy still works and pumps breastmilk, but she'd never say it's easy.
When I interviewed them, I was struck by how articulately they recounted their struggles and successes. Both kindly agreed to let me post edited versions of our interviews so you could read about their experiences in their own words. Just click on the attachment below.
click to read more...
When I interviewed them, I was struck by how articulately they recounted their struggles and successes. Both kindly agreed to let me post edited versions of our interviews so you could read about their experiences in their own words. Just click on the attachment below.
click to read more...
Cow's milk allergy prevalent among children but often misdiagnosed (Singapore News)
SINGAPORE: Cow's milk allergy is one of the most common childhood allergies but it is often misdiagnosed, say doctors.
It is believed that 3.5% of all children who have severe reactions to food are allergic to cow's milk.
Angry rashes plagued Charlotte Lum from the time she was just five weeks old.
Doctors she went to told her parents it was eczema.
The girl continued to suffer till she was three.
Her mother, Stella Lum, said: "We didn't think it was an allergy. We thought it was an eczema problem, that was the diagnosis from the paediatricians from the very beginning. So, we made sure that everything was clean and we gave her the appropriate cream for her bath and daily use. In terms of food allergy, it didn't occur to us, until it was highlighted by her teacher and also when I shared this information with my friend who has been treating skin problem. She said that maybe we should do a test on the food."
Looking back, her parents realised the allergy started at the same time they began supplementing Charlotte's diet of breast milk with formula milk.
click to read more...
It is believed that 3.5% of all children who have severe reactions to food are allergic to cow's milk.
Angry rashes plagued Charlotte Lum from the time she was just five weeks old.
Doctors she went to told her parents it was eczema.
The girl continued to suffer till she was three.
Her mother, Stella Lum, said: "We didn't think it was an allergy. We thought it was an eczema problem, that was the diagnosis from the paediatricians from the very beginning. So, we made sure that everything was clean and we gave her the appropriate cream for her bath and daily use. In terms of food allergy, it didn't occur to us, until it was highlighted by her teacher and also when I shared this information with my friend who has been treating skin problem. She said that maybe we should do a test on the food."
Looking back, her parents realised the allergy started at the same time they began supplementing Charlotte's diet of breast milk with formula milk.
click to read more...
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Separation of detained mothers from breastfed babies to stop (Guardian Unlimited)
Immigration officials are to be ordered to stop separating breastfeeding mothers from their babies in the drive to deport failed asylum seekers after the government was told that the practice flouts UN conventions.
In August, Guardian Unlimited revealed that in at least two cases earlier this year mothers had been detained in immigration and removal centres away from their pre-weaned children.
The cases involved Mrs N, a Vietnamese asylum seeker, and her six-month-old baby, and Mrs P, a Turkish asylum seeker, and her 15-month-old infant who she was still breastfeeding on medical advice.
Ministers were warned that the cases, which campaigners fear are not the only ones, "fly in the face of a number of UN resolutions and conventions".
click to read more...
In August, Guardian Unlimited revealed that in at least two cases earlier this year mothers had been detained in immigration and removal centres away from their pre-weaned children.
The cases involved Mrs N, a Vietnamese asylum seeker, and her six-month-old baby, and Mrs P, a Turkish asylum seeker, and her 15-month-old infant who she was still breastfeeding on medical advice.
Ministers were warned that the cases, which campaigners fear are not the only ones, "fly in the face of a number of UN resolutions and conventions".
click to read more...
Promoting Breastfeeding, Promoting Guilt? (Scoop)
Biocultural anthropologist and author, winner of the American Anthropological Society Margaret Mead award in 1995, Katherine A. Dettwyler, will be presenting at the Le Leche League Conference at the Auckland Conference Centre on Tuesday, 24 October.
Dr Dettwyler has conducted research on child health and growth for more than 25 years.
“Health care professionals say they don't want to give mothers complete and accurate information about the risks of artificial infant formula because they are worried about making mothers feel guilty about not breastfeeding,” she says. “Guilt is often used to promote healthy behaviors in health advertising.”
click to read more...
Dr Dettwyler has conducted research on child health and growth for more than 25 years.
“Health care professionals say they don't want to give mothers complete and accurate information about the risks of artificial infant formula because they are worried about making mothers feel guilty about not breastfeeding,” she says. “Guilt is often used to promote healthy behaviors in health advertising.”
click to read more...
Breastfeeding lowers mental health risks (The Australian)
BABIES that are breastfed for longer than six months are less likely to develop mental health problems in childhood, new research shows.
But the number of Australian mothers who feed their infants on breastmilk beyond the six-month mark falls far short of recommended national standards.
The findings are the latest to come from a ground-breaking study which tracked more than 2500 Western Australian children over the past 16 years.
Babies breastfed for less than six months had a 52 per cent increased risk of mental health problems at two years of age than those children breastfed for longer.
This risk increased to 55 per cent by the age of six and 61 per cent two years later, but had dropped to 37 per cent by age 10.
click to read more...
But the number of Australian mothers who feed their infants on breastmilk beyond the six-month mark falls far short of recommended national standards.
The findings are the latest to come from a ground-breaking study which tracked more than 2500 Western Australian children over the past 16 years.
Babies breastfed for less than six months had a 52 per cent increased risk of mental health problems at two years of age than those children breastfed for longer.
This risk increased to 55 per cent by the age of six and 61 per cent two years later, but had dropped to 37 per cent by age 10.
click to read more...
Monday, October 23, 2006
Paris: Protesting nursing mothers breastfeed in public (Nigerian Tribune)
ONE hundred young mothers gathered to breastfeed their babies in central Paris on Sunday afternoon to campaign against the taboo on nursing in public in France.
“There are lots of prejudices against breastfeeding, especially in professional environments,” said Marie-France Astoin, co-ordinator for the Big Breastfeed demonstration outside Paris’s Sainte Eustache church, one of several taking place simultaneously in France’s major cities.
Astoin decried France’s level of breastfeeding, which at around 50%, is the lowest in Europe. During the World Health Organisation’s International Breastfeeding Week, the UN body and partner organisations are trying to promote mother’s milk as a newborn’s best defence against diarrhoea and respiratory infection.
“It’s not at all a new feminist fight,” said Monica, mother of Raphael. “Nothing beats a mother’s milk, it’s natural, so why give something artificial in its place?” Nearby, a young father ambled past wearing a placard marked “breast is best”.
click to read more...
“There are lots of prejudices against breastfeeding, especially in professional environments,” said Marie-France Astoin, co-ordinator for the Big Breastfeed demonstration outside Paris’s Sainte Eustache church, one of several taking place simultaneously in France’s major cities.
Astoin decried France’s level of breastfeeding, which at around 50%, is the lowest in Europe. During the World Health Organisation’s International Breastfeeding Week, the UN body and partner organisations are trying to promote mother’s milk as a newborn’s best defence against diarrhoea and respiratory infection.
“It’s not at all a new feminist fight,” said Monica, mother of Raphael. “Nothing beats a mother’s milk, it’s natural, so why give something artificial in its place?” Nearby, a young father ambled past wearing a placard marked “breast is best”.
click to read more...
Sunday, October 22, 2006
A Short History Of Donor Milk (Star Tribune)
• 2250 B.C.: Code of Hammurabi describes attributes for good "wet nurses" -- women who breast-fed other mothers' babies.
click to read more...
click to read more...
Got (extra) milk? At the U, it's a warm commodity (Star Tribune)
Some Minnesota moms' breast milk is going to a for-profit California company, which modifies it and sells it to hospitals. But skeptics wonder if the company's high-tech treatment of the milk --and its high prices -- are necessary.
When it comes to feeding newborns, experts agree, there's nothing like mother's milk. But now, a Minneapolis hospital has teamed up with a California biotech company to try to improve on Mother Nature.
The University of Minnesota Medical Center is collecting the "raw material" -- breast milk -- from nursing mothers who are willing to donate what they don't need.
Then it's shipped to Prolacta Bioscience of Monrovia, Calif., where it's modified and sold back to hospitals for $26 to $43 an ounce.
click to read more...
When it comes to feeding newborns, experts agree, there's nothing like mother's milk. But now, a Minneapolis hospital has teamed up with a California biotech company to try to improve on Mother Nature.
The University of Minnesota Medical Center is collecting the "raw material" -- breast milk -- from nursing mothers who are willing to donate what they don't need.
Then it's shipped to Prolacta Bioscience of Monrovia, Calif., where it's modified and sold back to hospitals for $26 to $43 an ounce.
click to read more...
Friday, October 20, 2006
Lactnet empowers the frontlines of breastfeeding education, one email at a time
London, UK (October 20, 2006) – Lactnet – a unique Internet community providing up-to-the-minute information and ongoing support to breastfeeding educators worldwide – has won the grand prize in L-Soft's 2005-2006 LISTSERV® Choice Awards program, the only global recognition program for email list excellence.
Lactnet is a forum for cutting-edge information, discussion and support focusing on best practices, emerging thoughts and current research. It is designed for lactation consultants and others – such as lay breastfeeding counselors, nurses, doctors, midwives, public health advocates, pharmacologists, marketing experts, writers, journalists, scientists, dieticians and doulas – involved in providing support to mothers in breastfeeding their infants and young children.
click to read more...
Lactnet is a forum for cutting-edge information, discussion and support focusing on best practices, emerging thoughts and current research. It is designed for lactation consultants and others – such as lay breastfeeding counselors, nurses, doctors, midwives, public health advocates, pharmacologists, marketing experts, writers, journalists, scientists, dieticians and doulas – involved in providing support to mothers in breastfeeding their infants and young children.
click to read more...
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Tiffany trial was an error (NorthJersey.com)
Rosa Almond of Wayne merely wanted to breast-feed her baby.
No problem, right?
Our world respects nursing moms. Our enlightened Garden State even has a law allowing women to breast-feed "in any location of a place of public accommodation, resort or amusement wherein the mother is otherwise permitted."
Basically anywhere.
So how did a baby's need to feed become a civil rights case?
click to read more...
No problem, right?
Our world respects nursing moms. Our enlightened Garden State even has a law allowing women to breast-feed "in any location of a place of public accommodation, resort or amusement wherein the mother is otherwise permitted."
Basically anywhere.
So how did a baby's need to feed become a civil rights case?
click to read more...
Monday, October 16, 2006
The MomME Blog - A Breast by Any Other Name......
...I find it no less than absolutely outrageous that the God-given reason for breasts is a source of embarassment and outright mortification for most Americans. Bottles? Adorable. Fork and knife? Wonderful. Human milk? Disgusting. Score one for Hugh Hefner. And the moms of this land of freedom are just S.O.L. But only if they so choose. There are no state laws against breastfeeding in public, although authorities will often try to apply public indecency statutes to send nursing moms back behind closed doors. There are an increasingly large number of laws nationwide that specifically protect breastfeeding in public, including here in Maine...
click to read more...
click to read more...
Low breastfeeding rate due to fear (Irish Health.com)
Fear and embarrassment have been cited as the main reasons why Ireland has such a low breastfeeding rate, according to the latest irishhealth.com viewers' poll.
We asked our registered readers why they thought Ireland has such a low breastfeeding rate.
Twenty-four per cent said this is due to a lack of practical support, for example, from hospitals; while 42% said it is due to fear or embarrassment.
click to read more...
We asked our registered readers why they thought Ireland has such a low breastfeeding rate.
Twenty-four per cent said this is due to a lack of practical support, for example, from hospitals; while 42% said it is due to fear or embarrassment.
click to read more...
Library is welcome to breastfeeding (The Daily Evergreen)
Iwas very surprised to read in The Daily Evergreen last Tuesday that the Neill Public Library, which I direct, was being attacked for a policy it did not have.
The column suggests that we had not “gotten the memo” about breastfeeding in public. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you are a patron of the library you know that one of the strengths of the library is to welcome and support caregivers and children. We spend a good deal of your tax dollars and our energy enhancing education about child rearing – which of course includes breastfeeding. Such a life-affirming act, which by the way is one of the most important contributors to infant health, is welcome in the library and is routine, in accordance with Revised Code of Washington 43.70.640. Perhaps this had not been noticed by some newer library staff or some members of the public who may not be aware how often this occurs at the library.
So what really happened?...
click to read more...
The column suggests that we had not “gotten the memo” about breastfeeding in public. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you are a patron of the library you know that one of the strengths of the library is to welcome and support caregivers and children. We spend a good deal of your tax dollars and our energy enhancing education about child rearing – which of course includes breastfeeding. Such a life-affirming act, which by the way is one of the most important contributors to infant health, is welcome in the library and is routine, in accordance with Revised Code of Washington 43.70.640. Perhaps this had not been noticed by some newer library staff or some members of the public who may not be aware how often this occurs at the library.
So what really happened?...
click to read more...
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