I was contacted yesterday by a former client who is a flight attendant.  She
is having trouble arranging family leave with her employer.  Apparently she
was told she could have a 3 month (unpaid) leave for breastfeeding, then
just as this was to take effect she found out she was a few hours short of
the required work history to get this and must go back to work in one week.
She is asking for help because her baby is now almost 3 months old and does
not take the bottle well (maybe 1-2 oz breastmilk in a bottle have passed
his lips and he will take no formula at all).  Since she thought she was on
leave  she didn't have input to her schedule and the one she was given has
her in her home town only 5 days of the next month.

Her supervisor said that she could get a medical extension of the leave if
she had a strongly worded letter from the babies doctor stating that
separation from mother and lack of breastmilk would be harmful to this
child.  When this mom called the Pediatrician she was told this was a
convenience issue and the baby would do fine on bottles of formula once he
got hungry enough.

Does anyone have experience advocating for/with moms in this situation.  Are
there any doctors out there who have a "To Whom it may Concern" letter out
there we can use?  Other ideas?
Thanks, tracy
Tracy Haines Throckmorton
[log in to unmask]
(please note new e-mail address)

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