Elaine has asked about potential breastfeeding legislation relative to
formula supplementation of the breastfed infant in the hospital. The
supplementation rate is close to 50% in many hospitals, mostly for conditions  and
situations that arise from poor lactation care and services. Rather than  trying to
pass legislation regarding this issue, look to your state perinatal  regulations
which are policies that hospitals are mandated to follow.  Supplementation
guidelines are usually contained in hospital policies and  protocols that
perinatal regulations should require a hospital to have. A sample  can be found at
the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine website at _www.bfmed.org_
(http://www.bfmed.org) . This is what we have done in  Massachusetts. Our new regulations
state that "each maternal and newborn service  shall develop written,
evidence-based breastfeeding policies and procedures and  include these in staff
education and competency reviews." The state of New York  has perinatal regulations
that you should review to see exactly what is mandated  for hospitals in your
state. It is within these regulations that you can start  to affect how
hospitals deliver lactation care and services.

Carolyn Maloney is not a state legislator but one of New York's
representatives to Congress. She already has filed breastfeeding legislation  which all of
us in the US should ask our federal House  representatives to sign on to. She
does not initiate state legislation or  policy.

We are still working hard here in Massachusetts regarding the formula
discharge bag prohibition and again would really appreciate people who have not  yet
done so, to read and sign the petition from the Massachusetts Breastfeeding
Coalition at _www.massbfc.org_ (http://www.massbfc.org) . Also at this
webiste is a summary of the new breastfeeding perinatal regulations that have
recently been mandated.

Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA

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