Jackie Kampp points out again that many mothers have to go back to work
shortly after giving birth, with all the negative effects that has on BF.
But Jackie, I take exception to your TIC expression 'in the real world'.

I will again be the voice from across the pond, saying that the US is the
aberration, and much of the rest of the world is the norm.  Nearly every
other industrialized country has legislation giving women paid leave after
childbirth for some length of time.  In many places they have the right to
additional leave without pay.  The duration varies from country to country
but the concept is widely accepted EXCEPT in the USA, where childbearing is
very much the private burden of parents, despite paradoxically high public
involvement affecting women's choices from conception to birth.  When will
women in the US make themselves felt?  A country which professes to care so
much about the unborn but doesn't lift a finger to see that they get proper
care and nutrition after birth is mysterious to me.  Please note I am NOT
trying to open a thread on reproductive choices, only offering what seems to
me a possible argument for better maternity leave legislation, which is on
topic for Lactnet.

Ted Greiner says that requiring a woman to leave an infant in order to
return to paid employment is child abuse.  I can't recall whether he
mentioned mother abuse, or whether I just mentally added that.  'Requiring'
doesn't mean the employer demands it, either.  It means that the societal
mechanisms to give women alternatives are lacking, and that families are
forced to make this choice of economic necessity.

We don't have many people living under bridges, in libraries or at bus
terminals here, either.  And we have great maternity leave and the right to
reduced hours while breastfeeding.  It can be done.  Try it, you'll like it!
Rachel Myr
Norway

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