A Call to Action.

What moves you to action?

We're constantly inundated with opportunities to support one cause or another in a variety of ways - through awareness raising or fundraising or letter-writing or phone calling.  We can't possibly respond to everything. 

So which things catch your attention?  Often an experience of our own compels us to act for a particular cause.  Perhaps you lost your mother to breast cancer so breast cancer awareness is where you put your time.  Or maybe your husband has diabetes and you always support fundraising for diabetes prevention.  Maybe you lost a baby cousin to SIDS, & you share every "back to sleep" article or graphic you see on social media. 

Actually, those are all close to home for me.  But my passion is breastfeeding advocacy.  Maybe in part that's because breastfeeding reduces risks for breast cancer, diabetes, and SIDS, as well as a myriad of other life threatening illnesses.  

Breastfeeding has long been treated as a lifestyle choice, but after ages and ages of recommendations by all of the major physician organizations, it is now beginning to be treated as a public health issue.  As such, our society is faced with trying to adjust to the notion that if we want moms to work and we want moms to breastfeed, we must support their efforts to express milk at work.  And to the notion that if we want moms to support the economy and we want moms to breastfeed, we must accept and support that we're going to see them nurse their babies in grocery stores and restaurants.  

Currently there is legislation that would support mothers' efforts to breastfeed at work and in public, but the bills may never see a vote if they're not set for a date on the House floor by the end of the day Monday, May 6th.  

And here's where you will hopefully be moved to action: YOU can help.  In just a few minutes, you can contact legislators and ask them to put HB 741 and HB 1706 on the calendar ASAP.  Whether your cause is postpartum depression support, obesity prevention, child and maternal health, standing up to discrimination, women's rights - the list goes on - advocating for breastfeeding mothers and babies is a cause we can all get behind. 

Please go to TXBFLeg.com and see how you can support nursing moms and babies today in a way that will impact them for so many tomorrows.

Texas Mother Friendly - Promote Breastfeeding-Friendly Working Environments!

I recently received an email from a company promoting breastfeeding-friendly working environments. As you well know, I'm a HUGE breastfeeding advocate, and so I happily agreed to pass along the information that they're working hard to distribute. In this day and age, mother-friendly workplaces should be a right, not an amenity, but it will take hard work and activism to ensure that this becomes the case.


Here's what they had to say:


As the nation celebrates National Women's Health Week, it’s a perfect time to remind mothers, families and employers about the important role breastfeeding can play in the health of mother and child. Mothers who breastfeed according to medical recommendations (six months exclusive breastfeeding and continued breastfeeding through at least the first year of life) protect their child from illnesses and reduce their own risk of conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and breast and ovarian cancer.

While 75 percent of new moms in the United States start breastfeeding their babies, few continue after they return to work.  Many worksites lack a private location and adequate facilities for pumping and storing breastmilk, and mothers worry about the attitudes of their supervisors and co-workers if they ask for the small amount of break time they need to pump breastmilk during the workday.

That’s why the Texas Department of State Health Services encourages all Texas employers to consider developing a written worksite breastfeeding support policy and to pursue designation as a Texas Mother-Friendly Worksite. The agency also has launched www.TexasMotherFriendly.org as a resource for parents and employers.

I encourage you to visit the website, make a pledge to support working mothers and share this important information with anyone you feel may benefit!