I attended a hearing for some proposed breastfeeding legislation in
Wisconsin a few years ago (February 2000).  Under consideration before the
state assembly Ways and Means Committee was a tax exemption for businesses
that would set up a pumping room for employees who were breastfeeding
mothers.  What shocked me and the other breastfeeding advocates who were
called to testify was the ignorance about breastfeeding demonstrated by the
questions from the legislators.  (All middle-aged or older men, they were
quite embarrassed by the topic). These questions included:

Why would a mother want to use work time to pump milk?  Why couldn't she
pump at home, before and after work?  [I believe they were thinking that,
like dairy cows, the breasts could be milked twice a day].

Why would a company be asked to provide an electric breast pump to be used
by several different individuals?  Wouldn't this spread diseases like HIV
and other infections?

What would happen if all the women in a business have their scheduled break
at the same time.  How are all of them supposed to use the pump at the same
time?  How could they possibly buy enough pumps for everyone?

If every breastfeeding employee needs 6 fifteen minute breaks a day to pump
that would be an hour-and-a-half of lost work time at a tremendous cost to
the employer!  [I don't know where the figure of 6 breaks came from, except
that they had heard that a newborn has to nurse 8 - 12 times per 24 hours].

In response to this hearing, the Wisconsin Breastfeeding Coalition prepared
a "Fact Sheet" for legislators which could be handed out in the future.  It
can be seen at 
http://www.perinatalweb.org/association/pdf_docs/breastfactsheet2.pdf

We also developed a sheet of "Breastfeeding Terms You Should Know."  It can
be viewed at 
http://www.perinatalweb.org/association/pdf_docs/breastterms2.pdf

These were both one page (two-sided) sheets that we hoped would serve to
inform legislators and others about terms and basic facts that we in the
breastfeeding community mistakenly think everyone knows.

We had earlier written and distributed a Position Statement on
Breastfeeding, but since it was several pages long we don't think many who
received it actually had read it.  (It is at
http://www.perinatalweb.org/association/bfeed.html   Click on "Read
Publications On Line).

You are welcome to adapt these as you wish for your own needs.

Anne Altshuler, RN, MS, IBCLC and LLL leader in Madison, WI

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html