Breastfeeding

            According to Wikipedia, “breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from female human breasts rather than using infant formula. It is brought on by sucking reflexes that enables the baby to suck and swallow the milk. Some reasons why this topic is meaningful to me are because of the benefits to mother and child. As a mother, I breast fed my oldest child, however with my youngest child, I could not breastfeed because of a medication for my heart.

The benefits for mothers are:

-Bonding

-Hormone Release

-Weight Loss

-Long-term effects of lactation on health and body composition

-Gestational changes

-Postpartum changes

-Long-term health effects

-Financial Benefits

-Natural postpartum infertility

Benefits for the infant:

-Immunity

-Infections

-Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

-Diabetes

-Childhood Obesity

            In India, mothers commonly breastfed their children until 2 to 3 years of age. Cow’s milk is given in combination with breast milk though use of formula has been on a rise.

To impact the future work of others, different laws on jobs are being made in regard to mothers breastfeeding in the work place. At a school in our community, this is the new policy for mothers that will express milk.

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR BREAST-FEEDING MOTHERS

Each school under the jurisdiction of the School Board shall provide the following:

1.            An appropriate, private room, other than a restroom, that may be used by an employee to express breast milk. 

2.            A reasonable amount of break time to accommodate an employee needing to express breast milk that, to the extent possible, shall run concurrently with the break time already provided to the employee, and that shall be available to the employee for up to one (1) year following the birth of her child.

3.            Procedures for the employee to notify her supervisor or other appropriate personnel of her intent to make use of the accommodations offered pursuant to this policy and to schedule accordingly.

Any additional break time used by an employee to express breast milk shall be considered unpaid leave time.

Louisiana Department of Education New policy:  August, 2013

 

References:

“Nutrition in the First 1,000 days: State of the World’s Mothers, 2012 (October 2013)

www.wikipedia.com