Breastfeeding Advocates Work To Aid Compliance With Health Reform Provision

The Maryland Breastfeeding Coalition is working with businesses in the state to encourage compliance with a provision of the federal health reform law (PL 111-148) that requires employers to provide women with break times and a private locations to pump breast milk or breastfeed their infants, the Baltimore Sun reports (Cohn, Baltimore Sun, 9/29). The provision, which amends the Fair Labor Standards Act, is applicable until the child's first birthday (Women's Daily Health Policy Report, 4/13).

Although the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that three out of four new mothers in the U.S. initiate breastfeeding with their newborns, breastfeeding rates at six months and 12 months after birth are "stagnant and low," according to the Sun. The American Academy of Pediatrics, CDC and the World Health Organization recommend that infants are breastfed exclusively for the first six months of life and that breast milk remains their main source of nutrition through the end of the first year.

Women often stop breastfeeding before the end of the first year because of a number of factors, including insufficient support in physician offices, in hospitals and in the workplace, according to Kim Knight, a lactation consultant and president of the Maryland Breastfeeding Coalition. To help employers better support breastfeeding women, the coalition is distributing $300 federal grants to businesses with 50 or more employees to aid them in establishing space for women to pump milk at work. The coalition also plans to work with state teachers' unions to develop ways for teachers to pump at schools.

Breastfed infants tend to have fewer health issues than bottle-fed infants, meaning that supporting breastfeeding can pay off for employers by reducing women's absenteeism and lowering health care costs, Knight said. She noted that a recent study in the journal Pediatrics found the U.S. could save $13 billion annually on pediatric health care and prevent 911 infant deaths if 90% of infants were exclusively breastfed for the first six months (Cohn, Baltimore Sun, 9/29).


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