A recent article by momsrising.org has caused a stir in the blogosphere among breastfeeding supporters who believe that making paid maternity leave a requirement in the United States will increase Breastfeeding rates. The headline of the article states that Breastfeeding will not work without paid maternity leave. While I agree that paid maternity leave may encourage more moms to exclusively breastfeed, breastfeeding can work without paid maternity leave.
- I went back to school one week after Sariah was born where I also taught preschool classes 3 days a week. Sariah never had a bottle of formula.
- When Sariah was a few months old I babysat a baby who was born on the same day as her while my husband and the baby’s mom attended a Biology Conference. This baby was born 6 weeks early, his mom went back to work shortly after he was born and he also had never been given formula.
- Another woman I know worked after her daughter was born and she nursed her for 18 months.
It is hard going to school or working while breastfeeding (there were days I sat in the mothers room and cried because between school work and taking care of the baby I forgot to bring a lunch and had no money to buy any). Whether a mom works outside of the home or stay at home full-time with her children, mom’s often need a lot of determination and support to breastfeed for at least a year. I was not able to find any statistics of the breastfeeding rates of working mom’s vs. stay at home moms so if anyone knows please let me know.
I am from Canada and most of the women I know love that they can work for a company for at least 600 hours and then get almost a year of partially paid (55% up to $435 a week) maternity leave with no intention of returning to work after the baby is born. While paid maternity leave is great for moms to be able to take care of themselves and their new baby without loosing all of a second income. What does this mean for Canadian businesses? Would this make businesses less likely to hire women of childbearing ages?
Personally, I love being a stay at home mom. There is so much fulfillment in knowing that teaching and caring for them is my responsibility. I also save my family money with home cooked meals, line drying clothes, smart shopping and cleaning. I wouldn’t have time for all that if I worked out side of the home! We get by just fine on 21,000 a year.
Canada’s newest research by the Canadian Pediatric Society in March, 2009 shows that only 14 % of babies are exclusively breastfed at 6 months In 2005 a study conducted by the CDC in 2005 show’s that 11.9% of babies in the USA are exclusively breastfed. I don’t know if the US rates are improving or declining so it is hard to know if paid maternity leave does make a difference.
I believe there is never one solution to any problem. One thing that may cause Canada to have a slightly higer breastfeeding rate is that there is no WIC to give out formula cheques in Canada. Not wanting to spend over $200 a month on formula can do a lot to encourage breastfeeding for a year! I believe WIC is taking note of this as in July of this year the amounts of free formula will be reduced for partially and fully formula fed babies.
What do you think, would paid maternity leave increase breasfeeding rates in the USA?
