Company WEU has 20 employees. Ten or more are women. BWEU provides no maternity benefits, no flexible work schedules, no onsite childcare, and no lactation rooms. Despite women supplying more than 50% of the U.S. workforce, gaining accommodation in the workplace for those things uniquely woman such as pregnancy and breastfeeding is difficult at best, impossible at worst.

Many employers recognize that breast milk is the best source of infant nutrition. It promotes optimal growth and development, protects babies against diarrhea, respiratory infections, allergies and diabetes, and reduces mothers’ risk for ovarian cancer and premenopausal breast cancer, yet few employers  have a…

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First Lady Michelle Obama put eliminating childhood obesity at the top of her To Do list with the launch of Let’s Move, her much anticipated anti-obesity campaign. Mrs. Obama is hoping to reverse a dangerous and costly trend. Currently, one out of three U.S. children is overweight or obese. Among black children the rate is even higher, affecting one out of two children. For the first time since 1968, life expectancy is projected to decline.

Several high profile organizations and industries have agreed to join forces with the First Lady. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced that from now on its…

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New York Governor David A. Paterson announced last week that $6.98 million awarded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) will “fund policy, system and environmental changes to improve nutrition, increase physical activity and cut tobacco use in New York.” Only five initiatives are part of the new wellness funding, and one of them is breastfeeding.

Increase physical activity at elementary schools; educate the public about high-calorie foods; decrease tobacco use through advertising and free cessation service—all pretty typical point sources to improve health. But there is one more on the list: “Improve support to new mothers to promote breastfeeding,…

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Perhaps Andrew Wakefield, MD didn’t realize that his 1998 study erroneously linking vaccinations to autism would ignite a decade long controversy. But he should have. If not for the media frenzy fomented by high profile celebrities, the scientific method might have triumphed long ago. Journalists should know better. Yet given the scope of the damage, any claim of vindication would ring hollow. In the end, science prevailed, but at what cost?

After the United Kingdom General Medical Council (GMC) described the actions of Andrew Wakefield, MD, and two of his colleagues as dishonest and irresponsible, The Lancet, a respected medical journal,…

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Stephanie Sanders and Alex Bligh both had trouble with their milk supply in their early weeks of breastfeeding. After trying everything else, both turned to a drug called domperidone and found their supply quickly increased. Both were able to continue breastfeeding their children.

The difference? Alex lives in Dunedin, New Zealand, where she got a prescription from her doctor and had it filled at the pharmacy. Stephanie lives in northeast Georgia and had to sneak around, ordering her supply from the internet—from a company in New Zealand. The pills subtly arrived in an unmarked box.

FDA: Not okay
Stephanie and other American women…

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You grab a tub of ice cream off the grocery store shelf and survey the labels. Fat–15grams per serving. But how much of that is the good kind of fat (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats) and how much is bad (saturated and trans fats)? Unless you are a dietitian, deciphering nutrition labels is next to impossible.

Apparently sharing in the frustration, Congress has instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to instruct the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to review nutrition rating systems found on the front of food packages and report its findings before…

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Cadmium is the new lead. As covered earlier in babygooroo, both the federal government and some U.S. retailers (most notably Toys R Us and Wal-Mart) set restrictions on the amount of lead allowed in children’s products. According to a recent Associated Press (AP) investigation, Chinese manufacturers are now substituting cadmium for lead. Unfortunately, cadmium is no less dangerous.

What is cadmium?
Like lead, cadmium is a heavy metal. Since it occurs naturally in soil, most people are exposed to microscopic amounts of cadmium. Without direct exposure, most adults will suffer no ill effects.

Children, however, are particularly vulnerable to the toxic metal. Their bodies…

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Two weeks to go. If you’re like me, you haven’t finished your Christmas shopping, but before you buy another toy check out Trouble in Toyland: The 24th Annual Survey of Toy Safety. The free online guide is a quick reference providing safety guidelines on toys for small children and examples of available toys that may be hazardous.

Even with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) supposedly watching out for our kids, there’s been a flood of recalls issued for toys and other children’s products over the past couple of years. Since its inception decades ago, the CPSC had a small budget and…

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Why does a document designed to bring out the best in people too often bring out the worst?

Such is the case with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (Code).

As individuals react to the decision by the National Alliance for Breastfeeding Advocacy (NABA) in collaboration with INFACT Canada and the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) to cite Medela (maker of breast pumps and other breastfeeding aids) for Code violations, it appears that battle lines are being drawn.

Code Compliance
For those unfamiliar with the ongoing controversy, NABA was asked by the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) to review Medela’s compliance with the International Code of Marketing…

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Momlogic’s Talitha made it abundantly clear in a recent post that she wants everyone (especially doctors) to stop telling her to breastfeed. “It is not my mother’s choice, it’s not the pediatrician’s choice, and it isn’t your choice. It is MY choice,” wrote Talitha.

I am guessing that there is more to this story than meets the eye. But if talk of breastfeeding is off limits, what about other health-related topics? Can her doctor tell her about the risks of smoking while pregnant? What about the effects of alcohol on her unborn baby? Or the use of car seats, bicycle helmets, and…

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If you are a maternal child health worker in the UK (United Kingdom) and you’re hoping your facility will become Baby Friendly, it just got easier.

Established in 1992 by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is designed to assist maternity hospitals (birth facilities) in implementing the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and adhering to the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.

Sounds easy—just ten steps. Think again. Implementation of BFHI has been slow and tedious, especially in facilities with long-standing policies, procedures, and people!

Despite a growing body of evidence showing that breastfeeding improves health outcomes, less than…

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World Breastfeeding Week serves as a reminder that hardly a month goes by without a report of a breastfeeding mother being asked to vacate a public space because she was breastfeeding her baby (or worse yet, her young child). In an effort to protect a woman’s right to breastfeed wherever she has the right to be, forty-three states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands have enacted breastfeeding laws.

Because public breastfeeding elicits strong opinions, breastfeeding mothers might want to familiarize themselves with the laws in their state. A detailed listing of breastfeeding legislation organized state-by-state can be found at the…

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