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Subject:
From:
Kathy Dettwyler <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 3 Dec 1997 16:41:55 -0600
Content-Type:
text/plain
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Wonder if all our emails and letters had an impact??  Still not very strong
. . . . . . .

Author:  NOW Press Department <[log in to unmask]> at smtp
Date:    12/3/97 4:31 PM


To everyone who inquired. . .

Thanks for your patience.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   CONTACT: MIRA WEINSTEIN
December 3, 1997     Extension 705

 NOW APPRECIATES AAP RECOMMENDATIONS ON BREAST FEEDING,
 CALLS ON BUSINESS AND SOCIETY TO SUPPORT FINDINGS

Calling the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations long-overdue
recognition of the importance of breast feeding, NOW Action Vice President
Elizabeth Toledo called on businesses and society to take heed.

"It is a marker of progress that yesterday the medical community spoke out
in favor of longer-term breast feeding, whereas many women in my mother's
generation were strongly discouraged from nursing their children at all,"
Toledo said.  In fact, when pregnant with her first child, Toledo was the
only person in her birthing class whose mother had breast fed her
children.

"The AAP's announcement gives women more information to make important
decisions about their health and their baby's health," Toledo said. Citing
the barriers for many women, Toledo called on the business community to
help implement the pediatricians' findings.  For instance, she asked why
breast feeding mothers do not have access to facilities and equipment
through their workplace.  "When women do not have to hide in the bathroom
or in a corner to breast feed or pump, we will have come a long way toward
real respect for the job of being a mother," she said.

Toledo also urged the public to put the medical findings in accurate
perspective, saying the choice to breast feed is a personal decision; the
factors are different for every mother.  "Some women find it very
difficult to breast feed because of financial, logistical, health, or
other reasons.  Some women are able to overcome those obstacles, some
aren't.  We shouldn't use these findings to judge some mothers as good'
and others bad' because of their decision on this one issue of their
baby's health care."

NOW executive vice-president Kim Gandy had a similar reaction.  "I nursed
both of my daughters, and it was possible because I work for an employer
that made it possible.  But most employers don't provide those resources,
and some actively take steps that make breast feeding impossible for their
employees."  Gandy suggested that some of the difficulties would be
alleviated by greater public acceptance of nursing and pressure on
employers to provide pumping equipment, private space and adequate breaks
for nursing mothers.

Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition
Texas A&M University

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