Hi Jennifer,

I am not an expert, just a military brat and follower of such things.  As I
read over my post, it may sound like I am not supportive of her side-as you
read this, please note that I DO think BF military mothers SHOULD be given
special consideration.  I wish that when female soldiers become pregnant
they automatically be given a duty assignment that will allow breastfeeding
to continue.

From everything I have read, she really doesn't have a legal leg to stand
on.  Deployment is a tough deal and something she has legally agreed to do.
In this case, it can easily be argued that it is just as devastating for a
mother who has weaned her child to be deployed-just  _more complicated_  for
the breastfeeding mother.  This is a sorry situation for all soldiers who
have families.

The only way something like this will change is by an act of God, congress,
or even farther fetched military policy.  An interesting discussion I had
recently with a female solider was that women within the military need to
start making the change from within.  But we don't think this mother won't
find much sympathy from many of her fellow female soldiers-they have to
leave their kids too.  Some of those kids have medical conditions that many
would consider worse for the child than what would happen if a baby wasn't
breastfed. (I can't figure out how else to word that sentence-hope you all
caught the meaning.)

My personal opinion is that until lactation is recognized as a true "medical
disability condition" (see note below)-mothers everywhere in the workforce
will continue to be discriminated against.  Smokers are allowed breaks,
diabetics are allowed to medicate themselves on the job, a wide variety of
health conditions are addressed during working hours-support of lactation is
often not.

Some of you may wonder why I use the term "medical disability condition".
In my discussions with the State of Missouri Department of Labor, in order
for them to accept complaints from working mothers (which a military mother
could not use her state DOL to make a complaint-she will have to work at the
federal level) -the act of lactation would have to be considered a "medical
disability condition".  I know this will be confusing to some of you, it was
to me until they explained it about 300 times-try not to get hung up on the
word "disability"-it is a jargon phrased used the by Labor.  :)

In the workplace, for an employee to be given "consideration" of their need
to medicate during company hours---their reason for medicating would have to
be a known medical condition.  It is termed as a disability.  Pregnancy in
somewhat recent years has been given the designation by congress as a
disability.  This is through FMLA.  Breastfeeding has not been given that
designation.

So as it was explained to me, until some governmental body in the US
recognizes lactation as a medical condition that causes a disability (like
mastitis for example)  and not a choice that a mother just happens to
make-breastfeeding is not a protected act.  A worker at DOL said that
usually for something like this to change, a state legislature must pass a
law offering this kind of protection and some states will use that law as a
precedent when determining whether to take a complaint or not.  At the time
I was researching this, I could not find any governmental bodies that were
calling lactation a "medical disability condition".  If anyone is aware if
this has changed I would be very keen to know.

If the above did not make sense, it purely my own inadequacy at explaining
it-not the fault of the Missouri Department of Labor.  Some really nice
folks who took the time to listen and talk with me.

FYI, I did hear of one mother who thought about becoming a conscientious
objector.  Thankfully she did not "mix those causes".  Many felt that by
mixing causes she would have hurt both causes.  She was advised legally that
being conscientious had nothing to do with breastfeeding and would never
make through court.  A lawyer I talked to at the time thought that a working
mothers best bet was to go to court and try to get the disability
designation from a judge.  Someone else suggested that the mother take it to
the media.  But since the media is a machine being operated by business and
public opinion is already not supportive of breastfeeding-it would probably
not invoke sympathy but disdain.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful as to being more optimistic-but until BF
advocates become a loud strong voice-mothers don't have many options.

Warmly,
Nikki Simmons in Missouri :-)  Who spent 4+ hours on the phone last night
with a mother whose husband is over in Iraq.

-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Jennifer Tow, IBCLC
Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2004 9:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Help for military mom

I have searched the archives and shared the info I found with this mom, but
she has given me permission to post in hopes of more ideas. I am in contact
with a mother of a 12mos old who has been recalled to active duty, which
means she is at risk for deployment. Her baby has never been separated and
she has no plans to wean anytime soon. Does anyone know of any precendent
for a mom receiving any exemption? She is most concerned about the trauma of
separatioin to her baby. This is urgent--the recall is for February.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA

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