The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog

Department of Labor begins enforcing workplace pumping law, cites 23 companies

Here's some good news to start the year:  Remember the incredible news in 2010 that the federal health care reform legislation extended lactation accommodations to many employees nationwide?

Well, the news this week is that the Department of Labor has begun enforcing the law, sometimes known as "Break Time for Nursing Mothers."

A Department spokeswoman told MSNBC that 23 companies have already been cited for failure to comply with the law, including Starbucks, McDonalds, Dollar General, and Dillard's.  In those cases the Department reports that the companies did eventually comply with the requirements of the law, and in one case even agreed to pay back wages.  

While the fact that these companies weren't following the law might sound like bad news, I think it actually represents some great trends.  It means that mothers are starting to understand their rights under the law and have been willing to file complaints when they believe that those rights have been violated.  It also means that the Department of Labor has been actively working to enforce the law (as we discussed in this podcast, a law without an enforcement mechanism doesn't get you very far).  And based on the outcomes shared, it sounds like the result has ultimately been very positive.  Obviously there is more work to be done, but I think that this is a promising start.

Not sure what the law requires? Here's the Department of Labor's basic summary from their Fact Sheet:

Employers [of 50 employees or greater] are required to provide reasonable break time for an employee [who is covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act] to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child's birth each time such employee has need to express the milk.  Employers are also required to provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.

Want to see if you're covered by the law?  Wondering what to do if you believe that your employer is not in compliance with the law?  Here's a great FAQ page from the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee, which includes information on how to file a complaint.  Remember, too, that you may live in a state which has its own lactation accommodation law.

If you're not covered by the law or your state law, you may want to voice your support for the Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2011, which would extend these rights to many more employees.

And if you're wondering about those regulations you commented on, they're still pending.  But that isn't stopping the Department of Labor from enforcing the law now, based on the law itself.

Now you tell us:  Have you been affected by this law?  Does your employer know about it?  Have you had to file a complaint?

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Top 10 breastfeeding stories of 2011.

Here's my summary of the biggest news in breastfeeding in 2011. I think you'll agree that it was a banner year, especially for the elimination of some important barriers to breastfeeding. 

You can read my lists from prior years here: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006.  Feel free to tell me what I've missed!

Surgeon General issues a Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin kicked off the year by issuing a bold statement in support of breastfeeding.  It outlines steps needed to eliminate the barriers that keep so many mothers from reaching their breastfeeding goals, and forms the basis of the administration's policy initiatives in breastfeeding support (see CDC point below).

Target nurse-ins put spotlight on nursing in public.  In the final week of the year, protests were held at an estimated 100+ Target stores after mother-of-four Michelle Hickman was harassed and humiliated at a store in the Houston area.  Target's slow response and inconsistently applied policy of supporting nursing moms in its stores was a contrast to an earlier protest at Whole Foods, which ended in the store welcoming the protesters and establishing a written policy supporting nursing in their stores.

First Lady Michelle Obama promotes breastfeeding.  Could you ask for a higher profile advocate for breastfeeding than First Lady Michelle Obama?  As part of her Let's Move campaign to combat childhood obesity, she announced that she would work to eliminate hospital barriers to breastfeeding by pushing for an increase in the number of Baby Friendly hospitals.  This announcement became fodder for some high profile voices on the right who viewed it as an example of government over-reaching its authority.

Insurance coverage for breastfeeding support and pump rentals now required.  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued regulations requiring that insurance companies cover "Comprehensive lactation support and counseling, by a trained provider during pregnancy and/or in the postpartum period, and costs for renting breastfeeding equipment."  On August 1, 2012, these support services will be offered by insurance, with no co-pay or other cost-sharing.

Breastpumps become tax deductible and eligible for FSA accounts.  Reversing an earlier position, the IRS made breastpumps and related supplies tax deductible, and eligible for purchase using funds in an FSA account.  This is a bit complicated, so I recommend starting by reading this post and comments before assuming that you'll be able to benefit.

The CDC pushes for more Baby Friendly Hospitals.  After noting that U.S. hospitals are "a very long way from where we need to be" in implementing practices known to increase breastfeeding success, the CDC announced a new $6 million initiative to support the certification of more hospitals as Baby Friendly.  We currently have less Baby Friendly hospitals than Ecuador, so this is a welcome effort!

Kaiser announces Baby Friendly push at all hospitals.  Anyone noticing a theme here?  Health care giant Kaiser Permanente, which cares for more moms and babies than any other system in the U.S., announced that all 29 of its hospitals will either become Baby Friendly or be evaluated by their exclusive breastfeeding outcomes by the Joint Commission.  

Formula discharge bags are on the way out.  One of the thorniest issues when it comes to obtaining Baby Friendly status is the issue of the formula company "gift bags" given to most women on discharge from the hospital.  But grass roots organizing as well as government pressure has led to a marked decrease in the number of hospitals giving them out.  A study found a doubling of bag-free hospitals in ten states, and Rhode Island recently made news by became the first state to go completely "bag free."

Donor milk starts to become the standard of care in NICUs, shortages loom.  Modern donor milk banking celebrated its 100th anniversary a few years ago, and I think that this year marked the burgeoning acceptance of donor milk as mainstream therapy in NICUs.  Buoyed by research showing that donor milk can save lives, more and more hospitals are making donor milk the standard of care for preemies born before a certain number of weeks gestation or below a certain birth weight.  And the non-profit milk banks have been a victim of their own success; with demand rising they've seen increasingly frequent shortages.

Online mother-to-mother milk sharing continues to grow.  This was on my top ten list last year, but I thought it deserved to be on this year's list, too.  Milk sharing through the internet has grown dramatically, with the organization Human Milk 4 Human Babies now engaging over 20,000 members in 52 countries.

Mothering Magazine shuts down print publication.  The only magazine I know of that put breastfeeding at the top of its agenda shut down as a print publication this year.  For years, Mothering Magazine was the safe, supportive corner of the media universe for nursing mothers.  While mothering.com is still up and offering content on breastfeeding, birth, and other parenting issues, it's just not the same as receiving the magazine in the mail, or seeing it on the news stand.  

So, all in all, a great year for breastfeeding, wouldn't you say?

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Breastfeeding books for everyone on your list, 2011 edition

Each year around this time I update the list of books I've reviewed on this blog.  It makes for a good list of present ideas for moms or breastfeeding support people.

I've put asterisks by the ones I think would make particularly good gifts.

The ones in bold are new reviews for 2011.

For moms:

• If These Boobs Could Talk (humor)*
• The Breastfeeding Diaries (humor)
• Nursing Mother, Working Mother
• Eat Well, Lose Weight while Breastfeeding
• The Revolutionaries Wore Pearls*
• Breastfeeding Made Simple*
• Breastfeeding Made Simple, 2nd edition*
• Mama Knows Breast*
• Sleeping with your Baby*
• Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning*
• The Milk Memos*
• Pumping Secrets (CD)
• Breastfeeding Meditation (CD)
• More Mama's Milk (CD)*
• The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers*
• The Nursing Mother's Herbal*
• Mama's Little Breastfeeding Book
• The ABCs of Breastfeeding
• Permission to Mother*
• Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense*
• The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk*
• The Wet Nurse's Tale (fiction)*
• Great Expectations: The Essential Guide to Breastfeeding*
• The Essential Breastfeeding Log
• Breastfeeding, A Parent's Guide*
• The Black Woman's Guide to Breastfeeding*
• Breastfeeding with Comfort and Joy*
• The Nursing Mother's Herbal*
• Your Best Birth*
• Making Babies*
• Birth Day
• Breastfeeding: Portraits in Black and White*
• The Politics of Breastfeeding*
• Saggy Boobs and other Breastfeeding Myths*
• The Food of Love*
• The Nursing Mother's Companion, and the Nursing Mother's Breastfeeding Diary*
• Breastfeeding in Combat Boots*
• The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, 8th edition*
• Mothering Multiples*
• Breastfeeding Facts for Fathers
• Balancing Breast and Bottle
• The Complete Book of Breastfeeding
• Breastfeeding, Take Two*
• Breastfeeding in Combat Boots

For children:

• Nursies When the Sun Shines*
• Best Milk*
• Mama's Milk*
• Mommy Breastfeed my Baby Brother*
• If my Mom were a Platypus*
• 
  

For breastfeeding support people and advocates:

• Spanish for Breastfeeding Support (my book!)* 
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Breastfeeding Therapy
• Giving Breastmilk
• Viral Mothers
• The Revolutionaries Wore Pearls*
• Baby Led Breastfeeding (DVD)*
• The Nursing Mother's Herbal*
• Supporting Sucking Skills in Breastfeeding Infants*
• The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk*
• The Politics of Breastfeeding*
• The Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding*

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A lot of breastfeeding developments to be thankful for this year!

This Thanksgiving, I want to express my gratitude for the many developments in breastfeeding in the last year or so.  Here's my list:

Surgeon General’s issued a Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding

Employers are required to accommodate pumping moms

First Lady Michelle Obama promotes breastfeeding

Infant Risk Center opens, providing free medication information to nursing moms

CDC and AAP support WHO growth charts

Insurance coverage for breastfeeding support and pump rentals now required, with no co-pay

Research confirms use of anti-retroviral drugs can prevent most mother-to-child HIV infections through breastfeeding

For the first time, the AAP recommends breastfeeding as protective against SIDS

The CDC pushes for more Baby Friendly Hospitals

Formula discharge bags are on the decline.

Not a bad list, wouldn't you say?  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2011 would extend pumping accommodations to more employees

I hope by now you've all heard that the health care reform legislation of last year created a requirement that most employers make reasonable efforts to provide unpaid break time and a place to pump for their nursing employees.  And you probably know that laws in 24 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico also provide similar accomodations.

The federal requirement was a huge step forward, particularly for mothers who live in states without their own employer law,  provision extends that right only to "non exempt" (non-salaried) employees (for more detail on who is covered, see this page).  While some larger employers who employ salaried and non-salaried workers would probably extend this right to all of their nursing employees - both salaried and hourly - those who employ only salaried employees, and others who are reluctant to extend the right to everyone, are the target of new legislation, the Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2011.

According to the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee, the Act:

1. Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect breastfeeding women from being fired or discriminated against in the workplace.
2. Protects breastfeeding mothers by ensuring that executive, administrative, and professional employees, including elementary and secondary school teachers (in addition to non-exempt employees covered by the previous amendment), have break time and a private place to pump in the workplace.

The bill has been introduced in each house of Congress and is authored by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY). 

You can ask your senator to co-sponsor this legislation using this form created by Moms Rising.

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Check out these new ads to run on the Boston subway, starting today!

The Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition puts out great posters and educational materials about breastfeeding.  I was able to help with one on "las dos" last year.

Below is the Coalition's latest poster, which will appear on Boston subway ("T") cars starting today.  It focuses on employer support for breastfeeding, including the new federal law requiring employers to accommodate pumping employees.

You can buy this image in poster and post card form, as well as a lot of other great materials from the Coalition at their store.

Podcast: Here comes The Milk Truck!

I have a new podcast up on the Motherlove Herbal Company blog, with the Jill Miller, creator of The Milk Truck, a "mobile breastfeeding unit" in Pittsburgh.

I got to chat with Jill about how The Milk Truck works, the inspiration for the project, whether nursing stations can imply that nursing in public is inappropriate, and how art and humor can be used to challenge perceptions and start conversations.  Enjoy!

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The Milk Truck - a mobile nursing station - now on the road in Pittsburgh

What would you do if you saw a five foot breast with a light up nipple atop a converted ice cream truck come barreling down the street? 

If you live in Pittburgh, you might get the chance to find out.

Jill Miller, an art instructor at Carnegie Mellon University, created this truck as a mobile nursing station after noticing that attitudes toward breastfeeding weren't as friendly in Pittsburgh as in her prior home of San Francisco.  She funded the project primarily through Kickstarter. 

According to TIME, The Pittsburgh City Council recently passed a declaration establishing September 13th as "Milk Truck Day." 

You can track the location of the truck on its website and Facebook page.  And it's possible that the truck will go on the road to other cities. 

Here's a quote from the FAQ section of The Milk Truck website which I think you'll like.

Q:  Are you concerned that you may offend people with that obnoxious boob on the top of the truck?

A:  I'm concerned that we offend hungry babies every day by not letting them eat when they need to.

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ACLU: Colorado mom fired for pumping at work

You may have heard of this case already, but if not, here's the story, according to Time:

Heather Burgbacher, a teacher at Rocky Mountain Academy of Evergreen, was told that she was "not a good fit" for the school because of her pumping schedule. 

Burgbacher had arranged for a teacher's aide to supervise her classes for a total of one hour per seek so she could pump for ten minutes during each of two classes she taught twice a week.  She scheduled students to do their typing exercises during that time, so no teaching time was lost.  If she hadn't had those breaks, she says, she would have had to wait five to six hours before pumping.

Before she was fired, the school's human resources director told her to start using formula in lieu of pumping.

Colorado has a lactation accommodation law which requires an employer "to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for up to two years after the child's birth."  The ACLU has taken on Burgbacher's case.

The break time the teacher arranged sounded quite reasonable to me, and unlike in other states the break time doesn't have to be unpaid.  So, what am I missing here?

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Lactation and the law: An update from Jake Marcus at Mothering.com

Mothering.com (formerly Mothering Magazine) has published an update to its 2007 article, Lactation and the Law, by Jake Marcus.  I encourage you to check it out.  

A lot has happened since 2007, and Jake has provided a great summary.  She notes that while a few more states have statutes protecting nursing in public, 40 of the 50 states have laws with no enforcement provisions.

There has been some progress in the area of employer accommodations for nursing moms since Jake last wrote about it, with more states adopting laws supportive of pumping at work, and of course the new federal mandate.  Jake discusses some recent court decisions, too.

Jake and I did a podcast interview a few years ago on this topic, and while things have changed since then, the issues we discussed remain relevant. 

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