Here is what I'm sending to the the Virginia Child Day Care Council:

November 14, 1997

Sharon Jones, Chair
Child Day Care Council
730 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219-1849

Re: Proposal 22VAC 15-30-630I

Dear Ms. Jones:

I am very concerned about the proposed change to the child day care regulations,
omitting  protection for women breastfeeding their babies.  I am a mother who
breastfed her baby and toddler, and who used a Virginia-licensed day care
facility.  I was also the licensing coordinator for the cooperative preschool
that my daughter attended, so I am aware of the importance of the child day care
regulations.

The council's stated concern is that space limitations in some day care
facilities may not allow for a private place for a mother to nurse.  However, it
is not necessary -- nor it is particularly desirable -- for nursing mothers to
be segregated from society.  Breastfeeding a baby is an act of nurturing and a
method of feeding.  It need not take place in privacy since it is neither sexual
nor excretory.  While most people in our society are not used to the sight of
breasts being used for their physiological function, there is nothing inherently
offensive about the sight of a breastfeeding baby.  Furthermore, concerns about
inappropriate breast exposure are groundless: a breastfeeding baby's head and
mouth cover more of the breast than is covered by many evening gowns and bathing
suits commonly seen in public.  Thus the "problem" that the council seeks to
rectify with this change in regulation does not exist.

The council has also stated that allowing a day care provider to prohibit
nursing in the facility will not interfere with breastfeeding and thus will not
increase public and private expenditures on formula and health care for the
additional illnesses caused by the use of formula.  Has the council done any
research to back up this conclusion?  There are a number of scenarios that I can
easily imagine in which such interference with the breastfeeding relationship
could lead to early weaning and thus to increased costs.

For example, a breastfeeding mother who has been separated from her infant all
day: her breasts may be engorged, her baby desperate to reconnect with her after
the long separation.  She may have a long drive home ahead of her.  If she does
not sit right down and nurse her baby in the day care facility, she may get a
breast infection from the stagnant milk in her breasts.  She may then incur
medical costs for treating that infection.  She may wean because the infection
makes breastfeeding painful.  Weaning may also occur because the delay in
removing milk from her breasts causes her milk supply to plummet.
(Breastfeeding is a supply and demand process.  Any time that milk is not
promptly removed from the breast, this sends a signal to the pituitary gland to
produce less milk.  If a mother is frequently forced to wait many hours between
nursing sessions, her milk supply will soon disappear.)

Here is another likely scenario:  a mother who has no place to pump her milk at
work, but is able to find a good day care near her place of work.  If she is
able to arrange two or three brief breaks each day, she may be able to nurse her
baby.  Under the new regulations, her day care provider could prohibit this
merely because she finds the sight of a mother breastfeeding her baby offensive.
 That baby will have to be weaned to formula during the day, and the long delays
in removing milk from the breast may quickly lead to complete weaning.

I believe that the change in regulation has the potential to impose real costs
upon mothers and babies, and upon the Commonwealth of Virginia.  I also believe
that the change is unjust and irrational.  The change may also be illegal, as it
is in conflict with VA Code sec. 18.2-387, protecting a mother's right to
breastfeed wherever she is lawfully.  For all of the above reasons, I urge the
council to reject the proposed change in regulation.

Sincerely,

J. Rachael Hamlet, J.D.