From what I understand, people lose their rights in jail...including the
right to breastfeed.

HOWEVER - I have had the good fortune to work with physicians in jail who
have helped a newly-delivered mom breastfeed and gotten special permissions
to keep her baby with her for 6 weeks.

I've also had the good fortune to hear from nurses in a jail who REQUESTED
help in getting a mom a breast pump (WIC provided the pump) so she could
pump during a short stay in the jail (7 days, I believe).

The arrangements are VERY complicated, as electric breast pumps have parts
that can be used as weapons and so the mom has to be removed from the cell
and taken somewhere else (in our case, the infirmary) to pump. 

...and the frequency is usually not optimal even when the jail is a
less-crowded, lower-risk area (rarely seen in our area any more).

THEN there's the concern of use of drugs, etc. (reason why she was in jail
in the first place) that needs to be addressed before deciding if the pumped
milk is appropriate to be given to the baby, how to store it, how to get it
to the person taking care of the baby, etc. 

In our case, the milk was NOT given to the foster mother, but the mother did
maintain her milk production and did resume partial breastfeeding when she
left the jail.

I do agree that teaching this mom hand expression will give her the ability
to control her milk production, as we have learned that MILK REMOVAL is one
of the keys to maintaining milk production - but again, crowded conditions
may preclude her from even doing this!  

Jeanette Panchula, BSW, RN, PHN, IBCLC
California, USA

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