There's an interesting, and unfortunate, conflict that occurs between breastfeeding and working mothers. For decades, women in the U.S. have made huge strides toward equality in the workplace, and in the home. Women are wage earners and, more and more, their partners play a bigger role in child rearing. This is good. At the same time, there's been a huge push toward increasing the number of new mothers who breastfeed, with some positive results. Considering the economic and health benefits of breastfeeding, this is also good.

However, some of the recent studies I have come across show that, when new mothers return to the workforce, they decrease the amount they breastfeed, or stop altogether. The rapid return to employment after childbirth, and the lack of accommodations or time flexibility to pump breast milk at work, is believed to be the main reason working mothers stop nursing.

Last year, President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, which provides certain working mothers -those in lower-paying, hourly jobs - nursing breaks and a private, sanitary place to express breast milk at work. In an analysis released in December, the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) in Washington D.C. sought to see how many women, and who, will be affected by the new law.

Calling their projections "reasonable and cautious," IWPR researchers estimate that, nationally, an additional 165,000 new mothers each year, who are covered by the ACA, will breastfeed exclusively for the first six months. This is only about a four percent increase from current figures. But researchers predict that women who do not fall under the ACA will also benefit from the reforms, which will increase the number of additional mothers who breastfeed to more than a million in the next six years.

It's so hard to imagine, with all we know about the benefits of breastfeeding, that it's still a struggle for new mothers to both work and nurse their infants. Here at First 5 LA, we're also hoping to see breastfeeding rates increase through public policy efforts and initiatives, like the eight Baby-Friendly Hospital grants we awarded to Los Angeles County hospitals.

I join the IWPR in applauding Congress and President Obama for the ACA and other designations for women and children under the new Health Reform Act.

Evelyn V. Martinez

Chief Executive Officer
First 5 LA

###

"Evie's Desk" is a regular feature of our weekly newsletter, "Monday Morning Report". Subscribe now or view past issues.