My name is Telissa Stumpf, and I am a nursing student at the University of
North Dakota College of Nursing. As a future career woman and future
mother who plans to breastfeed, I have become interested in how employment
attitudes affect women who choose to continue breastfeeding after returning
to work. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1998, sec.
16-19) reports that 64% of women initially chose to breastfeed, with only
29% continuing through the sixth month. These numbers are far below the
goals of Healthy People 2010, which are to have 75% of infants breastfeed
at birth with 50% continuing with some human milk through six months (U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, 1998, sec. 16-19).
According to recent statistics, women make up approximately 57-58% of the
United States' workforce (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2000). For a working
mother, returning to work can be a stressful time, as she is not only
separated from her new infant, but may also face the challenge of
expressing milk without the support of her employer. In a study by
Chezeman and Friesen (1999), returning to work was the number one reason
mothers chose to stop breastfeeding. How can we as professionals
encourage/support mothers to continue breastfeeding as they make the
transition back into the workforce? Are there certain interventions that
may make this transition easier for the mother?
One way to increase the percentage of working mothers who breastfeed has
been proposed legislatively. In an effort to increase employer awareness
and support of breastfeeding, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
introduced three bills in 1999 related to this issue. One of these bills,
the Breastfeeding Promotion and Employers' Tax Incentive Act, was created
to encourage employers to make the necessary provisions for breastfeeding
employees (Gottlieb, 1999). This bill allows employers to receive a 50%
tax credit on qualified expenses incurred to become breastfeeding-friendly.
The bill has been sent to the Ways and Means Committee for further review.
With all the advantages that lactation programs provide for both employer
and employee, what can be done to increase employer awareness and support
of these programs? Does anyone have personal experiences they could share
related to this topic? Any response is appreciated. Thank you. Telissa
Stumpf, Student Nurse, University of North Dakota.
Breastfeeding legislation in the 106th Congress. (n.d.). Retrieved
January 24, 2001, from the World Wide Web:
http://www.house.gov/maloney/issues/womenchildren/breasfeeding/fedleg.htm
Breastfeeding, newborn screening, and service systems. (n.d.) U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved January 26, 2001, from
the World Wide Web:
http://web.health.gov/healthypeople/document/html/volume2/16mich.htm
Chezem, J., & Friesen, C. (1999). Attendance at breast-feeding support
meetings: Relationship to demographic characteristics and duration of
lactation in women planning postpartum employment. Journal of the American
Dietetic Association, 99 (1), 83-85. Retrieved January 18, 2001, from
Electric Library database (Proquest) on the World Wide Web:
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb
Gottlieb, S. (1999). Bills may extend working women's right to
breastfeed. Western Journal of Medicine, 171 (1), 55-56. Retrieved
January 18, 2001, from Electric Library database (Proquest) on the World
Wide Web: http://proquest.umi.com/pdqweb
Labor force statistics from the current population survey. (n.d.). Bureau
of Labor Statistics. Retrieved January 25, 2001, from the World Wide Web:
http://146.142.4.24/cgi-bin/surveymost
***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
