BREAST IS STILL BEST
By: State Sen. Connie Williams

The week of Aug. 1 through 7th is World Breastfeeding Week. Here in Pennsylvania, our mothers and babies will celebrate knowing that finally they can nurse and feed as necessary and in whatever public place they are permitted to be! They will know, too, that they can't be arrested for indecent exposure, for performing an obscene act, or for creating a public nuisance.

It has taken 11 years for the Pennsylvania legislature to pass a law that protects breastfeeding mothers. The first bills were introduced in 1996, by the then state Sen. Allyson Schwartz (now Congresswoman) and state Rep. Lisa Boscola (now a state Senator).

Why did it take so long? And why did 38 other states already have laws on their books when Gov. Ed Rendell signed my legislation (S.B. 34), the Freedom to Breastfeed, into Act 28 of 2007 on July 8, 2007?

It's ironic that while the public seems to have no problem with bare breasts in painting, sculpture (check out the massive sculptures at the entrance to the Capitol in Harrisburg), television, or in the movies, a mother nursing her child is perceived as a threat to civil society.

Breast milk is a baby's first source of nourishment. Breastfeeding is nature's way of ensuring the initial tangible and emotional bond between mother and child. Breastfeeding boosts a baby's immune system, is easy, convenient and free. Mothers who nurse get back into shape quicker. A new study shows a decrease in breast cancer in older mothers who nurse.

This basic act is as beneficial today for mother and child as it was for our earlier ancestors and the more we learn about breastfeeding the more we should encourage and support it.

But do we do this?

As more and more women with young children enter the workforce (over 50 percent of mothers with children under age one are in the workplace), workplaces should be more friendly to nursing mothers.

Those mothers who want to continue to feed their babies mother's milk after they return to work need a private place to pump their milk and a refrigerator in which to store it. These requirements do not pose problems for those women who have a private office and access to cold storage. But what about the sales clerk, the secretary, a factory worker? Should they be forced to wean their children before they are ready?

It should not be a big deal, but it is. Statistics show that while 63 percent of mothers in the United States exclusively nurse their newborns this number drops to 14 percent at six month. The American Academy of Pediatrics, however, recommends infants be breastfed exclusively for six months and continuing for at least the first year of a child's life.

I am delighted with Act 28 of 2007, but there is more that needs to be done, especially when it comes to accommodations in the workplace. I have offered legislation (S.B.s 35 and 36) that would ensure women are not discriminated in the workplace for expressing milk or nursing on their lunch hours or breaks and that would provide tax credits to businesses that make accommodations for women to breastfeed.

Maybe next year as we celebrate World Breastfeeding Week, we will be able to celebrate more victories. Each victory benefits Pennsylvania's children. I hope others will join with me in this important public health campaign.

Significant Events for Mothers and Babies: A Timeline

• 1862 – Pasteurization is introduced

• 1867 – Henri Nestle created baby formula in Switzerland

• 1880 – Women began supplementing their own milk with cows' milk as upper and middle class women became more concerned with their roles as companions to their husbands and working class women had no choice but to leave their babies with family members

• Early 20^th Century – Infant mortality rates were linked directly to bottle-feeding and a national campaign was launched to encourage mothers to breastfeed. Physicians recommended breastfeeding as the cornerstone of preventative medicine.

• 1930s – Pediatricians deemed strings of respiratory, ear and gastrointestinal infections inevitable childhood events.

• 1930 to 1970's – Mothers continued to supplement their milk with cows' milk and formula and wean infants within the first few weeks and months of life, and many mothers did not breastfeed at all.

• 1970's – Medical community linked formula feeding with sick children.

• 1971 – Breastfeeding reached its all-time low in the United States, with only 24 percent of mothers initiating breastfeeding.

• Late 1970s – Initiation rates increased, but receded and surged again through the 1980s and 1990s.

• 1990 – Healthy People 2000 released, a federal comprehensive agenda to increase years of healthy life, reduce disparities in health among different population groups and achieve access to preventative health services. It included a goal of increasing the proportion of mothers who breastfeed their babies.

• 2000 – Healthy People 2010 sets public health goals to increase initiation and extended breastfeeding rates.

• 2007 – Healthy People 2010 expanded breastfeeding objectives to include targets for breastfeeding exclusivity.