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Breastfeeding Employee & The Federal Law
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Helpful Working Mother Web Sites
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Breastfed babies and their moms who breastfeed them experience lasting health benefits. Providing a breastfeeding friendly atmosphere at your child care center can encourage moms to continue breastfeeding after returning to work or school. Complete the child care center self-assessment to find out if your child care center qualifies. If your center meets all six standards and has a breastfeeding policy, you may qualify to receive the FL DOH Florida Child Care Food Program's Breastfeeding Friendly Child Care Facility designation.
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IRS Decision a Victory for Nursing Mothers Everywhere
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced they will reverse a ruling that denies equipment used to help women breast feed from being covered as a health care expense.
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 Help Working Families Stay Healthy: Support Breastfeeding Mothers
Tell Your Congressperson to Co-Sponsor H.R. 2236
Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2007
Only a few states have working mother laws to address the needs of the breastfeeding mother in the workplace. Florida does not have workplace protection laws to protect breastfeeding working mothers in the workplace. If more people encourage their congressperson to support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2007, there would be little need for individual states to have workplace laws for breastfeeding working mothers. Please contact your congressperson or go to the site above and sign the e-mail to support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2007.
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READ: Senator Merkley's
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"Flashpoint" Channel 6 WKMG - Tackles Topic of Breastfeeding In Public & Workplace Issues - Lauren Rowe, WKMG Orlando, FL reporter, talks with experts about mothers breastfeeding their children in public places and in breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. Click picture above.
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A Business Case
for Breastfeeding
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau, has released its comprehensive resource kit to support working mothers. This wonderful website has suggestions and information for every possible industry with helpful solution to meeting the needs of the breastfeeding employee.
Companies that provide time and space for women to express their milk when they are in the workplace and apart from their babies have been proven to enjoy significant cost savings, including:
Lower Rates of Absenteeism
When babies are sick less often, parents require fewer days of sick leave to care for them. One-day absences occur more than twice as often for mothers of formula fed infants (Cohen 1995).
Lower Health Care Costs
When babies are healthier, workplaces save on health care costs and medical claims. One study of employees found that for every 1,000 babies not breastfed, there were 2,033 excess physician visits, 212 excess hospitalization days, and 609 excess prescriptions for three illness alone --ear infections and respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses--(Ball 1999). Another study showed that among employees' infants who were never sick, 86 percent were breastfed (Cohen 1994).
Better Retention of Employees
Businesses that provide employee lactation support programs can enjoy a reduction in their turnover rates of women who do not return to work after maternity leave. One company estimated a savings of $75,000 per employee who returned to work after childbirth (EEO Trust 2001).
Higher Productivity and Company Loyalty
Companies that provide a supportive environment for breastfeeding employees may find that employees are more productive and committed to the organization (Galtry 1997).
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Request Breastfeeding Working Mother Testimonies
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FLORIDA presently has NO LAWS or legislation to support breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. The Florida Breastfeeding Coalition is actively collecting testimonies of breastfeeding working mothers' challenges in the workplace. These testimonies will be used to help persuade Florida lawmakers of the necessity of a workplace and breastfeeding law. The Coalition is particularly interested in testimonies of mothers who have met with barriers, hardships or discrimination, which resulted in not being able to pump in the workplace to provide milk for their baby or the loss of their job. As well the Coalition would like to hear about success in the workplace if an employer has demonstrated exceptional support of breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. Please e-mail testimonies to office@flbreastfeeding.org Please include contact information with testimony.
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