Page A-3 Gloucester County Times, Monday July 19, 1999 features a lovely
1/3 page article about Chris Mulford.
World Matters.  Local nurse helps focus UN attention on breast-feeding moms
in the workplace. By Andrew Busch.

Washington Twp. - It wasn't exactly a relaxing three weeks spent in scenic
Switzerland.

Scraping by on a "shoestring budget," Chris Mulford spent most of her
evenings in June in Geneva boarding hostels, while her days were occupied
sitting through lengthy hearings before an arm of the United Nations
concerning international workplace standards.

"This was grass roots, definitely,  Mulford said.  "We were not driving in
a taxi from a hotel.  We were coming in on a bus."  But it was a productive
trip, nonetheless.

Mulford, a registered nurse and health educator for Women's and Children's
Services for the Kennedy Health System, and 21 other breast feeding
advocates from around the world effectively have pushed to  have standards
allowing mothers in the workplace to breast feed included in an
International Labor Organization pact.

The ILO is a branch of the UN organized so that governments, workers and
employees[ I think this is employers] are represented equally when
international workplace standards are set.  When a UN member country
ratifies an ILO convention, or agreement, it agrees to  honor the points of
the deal.

For the past 80 years, the Maternity Protection Convention has included
standards that say mothers in the workplace are allowed breaks to nurse
their babies.  This can include the mother actually feeding the baby in
certain areas of the workplace, or allowing her to express her milk and
store it to give to the child later.  Mulford said breast feeding mothers
must express milk approximately every two   hours.

But the revised maternity document, which has been in the drafting stage
for the past year, lacked language guaranteeing new mothers breaks to keep
  up  with feedings.

This stemmed from some countries, namely wealthier nations like the United
States, Japan, Canada and many European countries, wanting more flexibility
in the convention so more countries would adopt it, according to  Mulford.
She said Third World countries largely support breast feeding breaks.

"To me, it looks like someone is out to say, 'Breast feeding is not
important,' " said Mulford, who   has been working with  mothers and babies
for the past 20 years.  But the benefits of breast feeding are easily
measurable, says Mulford.  She said babies who are breastfed have proven to
be healthier, and require much less medical attention.

Mulford said figures show parents who breast feed save more than $400 on
health care costs alone.  She said children weaned on dairy  formulas
suffer more frequent infections and illnesses than  those who are breast
fed.

In addition, she said parents whose children are breast fed save money they
would have spent on formula and related products.

Mulford said protecting women's rights to breast feed in the workplace is
becoming increasingly important, as more women continue to return to their
jobs shortly after giving birth.

By the end of Mulford's recent trip, the majority of UN member nations
agreed with these points.  After hearing presentations touting the benefits
of breast feeding, by a slim margin, member nations voted to reinsert
nursing breaks at work   in the Maternity Protection Convention.

Mulford warned that this stipulation could still be taken  out as the
document will be revised further over the next year,  but said the support
gave breast feeding advocates encouragement.

"We felt good about it," she said.  "To me, that is a very clear example of
somebody saying 'Breast feeding has value,' "
That value is seen by 62 percent of new mothers nation-wide who initially
breast feed their children, Mulford said.  Mulford said the goal of breast
feeding advocates is to have 75 percent of all women  breast feed their
neworns.  Mulford said education is the key to increasing the numbers of
women who breast feed.

In conjunction with Kennedy, Mulford has begun publishing a monthly
newsletter on the subject that is distributed to some 700 physicians and
medical offices in South Jersey, said Gwen Heany-Cutts, corporate director
for Women's and Children's Services for Kennedy.

While it may not be measurable yet, Heany-Cutts said she is confident
Mulford's efforts will "change the impact" breast feeding proponents have
on workplace conditions.

"Chris herself is a remarkable person," Heany-Cutts said.  "Certainly, the
way she brings in her breast feeding values and personal values, it helps
to  get more information out there."

Caption under pix of Chris says: Chris Mulford, health educator for Women's
and Children's Services for Kennedy Health System, explains a chart showing
that more women are staying in the work force after having children.

[way to go Chris!!!  Before you think I mistyped all the breast fed, breast
feeding words etc.  let me say that this paper has come a long way.  In
1967 we could not even use the word breast in articles as we began LLL
meetings in this area :-)
I'm only sorry they didn't get the LC words in there. Sincerely, Pat in
SNJ]

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