| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul
|
 Posted: Thu May 05, 2005 4:30 pm Post subject: Breast-feeding: What about Nursing at Work? |
 |
|
Women hold 'nurse-in' for U.S. breast-feeding bill
Dozens of mothers and babies held a pre-Mother's Day "nurse-in" near the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to support legislation to make it easier for working women to breast-feed or pump milk for their babies on the job. "Breast-feeding is natural and it has a health benefit to mothers and children," said the legislation's chief sponsor, New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney, trying to be heard above the din of young children.
Her bill would expand the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act so a woman could not be fired or discriminated against in the workplace for pumping or nursing on breaks.
YAHOO! News
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1896&ncid=1896&e=6&u=/nm/20050505/us_nm/congress_breastfeeding_dc |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
|
| Posted: Thu May 05, 2005 4:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
This is good news. In Australia the government has done a lot to encourage women to breastfeed, and when I was there in Jan/Feb, I could always find good parent rooms with special comfortable cubicles to breastfeed. Such a contrast to Korea, where nearly all the women seem to be shovelling formula into their offspring, and it is just about impossible to breastfeed when you are out.
For the record, I pump at work. But I'm lucky because I'm a professor (Ha ha) and have my own office. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
|
| Posted: Thu May 05, 2005 8:01 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Breast milk has all kinds of health benefits that can't be matched by formula. Anything that encourages/helps mothers breast feed is great. Add in that breast feeding is the ultimate stress reducer for women. One of the reasons women feel pleasure when their nipples are sucked/licked is because when a nursing baby does it, it dumps all kinds of happy chemicals into a stressed out mother's brain. A happy mother is less likely to shake her baby to death. And the human species continues... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
|
| Posted: Thu May 05, 2005 8:42 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I breastfeed wherever and whenever.. sure some people gawk (esp. men) but generally I try to be discreet. Korea also is pretty good with baby rooms... all major department stores and supermarket have one. I was thrilled to find that even train stations have them! If one is nearby, I definitely will go if I am not in a hurry. I think it might be a way for shops to lure us to do some shopping.. last time I was in Shinsaegae at the Gangnam Express Bus Terminal.. I spent over 100,000 on toys for Letty  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
peppergirl
Joined: 07 Dec 2003
|
| Posted: Thu May 05, 2005 9:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
My Korean SIL is going back to work in a few weeks, and is still breastfeeding. She's a public officer and instead of two 30 min pumping breaks, she can come to work 1 hr later or leave work 1 hr early every day.
It seems the tide is changing in Korea regarding breastfeeding/formula though. The big women's hospital I am visiting here even has a lactation specialist, and my SIL is not the only young Korean mother I know who's breastfeeding. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
|
| Posted: Thu May 05, 2005 9:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| peppergirl wrote: |
My Korean SIL is going back to work in a few weeks, and is still breastfeeding. She's a public officer and instead of two 30 min pumping breaks, she can come to work 1 hr later or leave work 1 hr early every day.
It seems the tide is changing in Korea regarding breastfeeding/formula though. The big women's hospital I am visiting here even has a lactation specialist, and my SIL is not the only young Korean mother I know who's breastfeeding. |
A long time ago the formula companies totally had the hospital staff in their grasp. Until recently drug companies couldn't advertise. How they pushed drugs was basically spending huge amounts of money on doctors, nurses, etc. Microwaves for lunch rooms, pizza days, etc. In maternity wards, the formula makers really tried to get nurses to push formula. A baby that starts on formula won't generally take breast milk.
I'm not sure why men freak out about breast feeding. I don't know many women that just whip it out in church or the Dinsey Store or whereever. Women are smart. They find a quiet little place and breast feed. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
|
| Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 1:28 am Post subject: |
|
|
| mindmetoo wrote: |
| I'm not sure why men freak out about breast feeding. I don't know many women that just whip it out in church or the Dinsey Store or whereever. Women are smart. They find a quiet little place and breast feed. |
I don't know why men freak out either, but they do.
You haven't met me, mindmetoo  The most public place I have breastfed was Costco. I was with a friend and I fed Letty when we were walking. It was a quiet day, so not many people were in the shop but Letty was fussy, we were in a hurry, I had no choice but to whip my boob out and feed her while we walked. At least she was fed, we were able to shop and didn't disturb other shoppers. Since that day, I don't care much where I feed.. LOL...  But like I said, if there's a dept. store nearby, I will just go there and use their baby room. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
R. S. Refugee
Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Location: Shangra La, ROK
|
| Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 1:52 am Post subject: |
|
|
| tzechuk wrote: |
You haven't met me, mindmetoo The most public place I have breastfed was Costco. I was with a friend and I fed Letty when we were walking. It was a quiet day, so not many people were in the shop but Letty was fussy, we were in a hurry, I had no choice but to whip my boob out and feed her while we walked. |
Sometimes ya just gotta eat on the run, right Letty?   
I see women breast feeding all the time around Seattle.
Back when I was a babe, the economically deprived women thought it was so much more sophisticated and high falutin' to use formula. Probably was a Southern Baptist thing as well.
I think that's probably how I got off to a bad start in life and always felt deprived. It's made me a cranky contrarian ever since.   |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Lemon
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 4:44 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| Back when I was a babe, the economically deprived women thought it was so much more sophisticated and high falutin' to use formula. Probably was a Southern Baptist thing as well. |
During my babe-days, it wasn't just the "economically deprived" who were using the formula. In those days (late 60s, early 70s) it really was being pushed to be the enlightened way of the future for everyone, like wood paneling on station wagons, and monolithic concrete superstructures in downtown cores.
Mindmetoo's story about the formula companies promoting formula use is very credible:
| Quote: |
| During that time, advertising of breastmilk substitutes was widely used in newspapers and magazines, and on radio and later on television. The corporations were using "milk nurses" to push their products in health facilities; free samples and glossy literature on their products were provided to mothers soon after delivery; and a number of other hard-sell tactics were being used. The success of these unethical marketing practices can be measured in the many millions of babies worldwide not being breastfed and in huge corporate profits. Unfortunately it can also be measured in hundreds of thousands of infant deaths attributable to bottle feeding. |
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kent/latham.html
Too bad - think of how much healthier that generation would be now if it'd had the benefit of better nutrition and increased immune systems that breast milk promotes. And the social and political environment of tyhe time - specifically feminism - shares some blame for it:
| Quote: |
Formula, being ��scientifically�� formulated, was touted as superior to ��old-fashioned�� breastfeeding. It was hailed as a boon of modernity, freeing women from being so tied to their babies. My mother had me in the 1970s, when breastfeeding in America hit its all-time lowest rates. The feminist movement had told women to get out of their homes and get real jobs, and they listened in droves. Formula made that vastly easier, because mom could be gone for hours or even days at a time, without worrying about feeding the baby. My mother��s feminism told her that breastfeeding was not only unnecessary, but to be avoided, because a nursing mom must actually stay with her children.
|
http://quicksitebuilder.cnet.com/minnyabfmom/id65.html |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 5:29 am Post subject: |
|
|
| I'm all in favor of seeing more mammaries. Just make sure the baby doesn't obscure the view too much. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tiny_Tibbo
Joined: 21 Apr 2005
Location: In My Skin
|
| Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 7:38 am Post subject: |
|
|
| my director breast feeds at the front desk while she's talkin to me.....i find it quite ackward.......its not discrete...all out .... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
sonofthedarkstranger
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 8:08 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Tiny_Tibbo wrote: |
| my director breast feeds at the front desk while she's talkin to me.....i find it quite ackward.......its not discrete...all out .... |
Good for her, I say. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tiny_Tibbo
Joined: 21 Apr 2005
Location: In My Skin
|
| Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 8:25 am Post subject: |
|
|
| It is good for her. I think breast feedin is a beautiful thing, as with every part of nature....however.....i still find it ackward. Maybe its the combination of nature and the workplace, oil and water to me. naw.....i still find it ackward...maybe if we all walked around with our breasts exposed it wouldn't be so uncomfortable..... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
R. S. Refugee
Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Location: Shangra La, ROK
|
| Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 9:30 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Tiny_Tibbo wrote: |
| It is good for her. I think breast feedin is a beautiful thing, as with every part of nature....however.....i still find it ackward. Maybe its the combination of nature and the workplace, oil and water to me. naw.....i still find it ackward...maybe if we all walked around with our *beep* exposed it wouldn't be so uncomfortable..... |
Worth a try. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
|
| Posted: Sat May 07, 2005 3:27 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| tzechuk wrote: |
| I breastfeed wherever and whenever.. sure some people gawk (esp. men) but generally I try to be discreet. Korea also is pretty good with baby rooms... all major department stores and supermarket have one. I was thrilled to find that even train stations have them! If one is nearby, I definitely will go if I am not in a hurry. I think it might be a way for shops to lure us to do some shopping.. last time I was in Shinsaegae at the Gangnam Express Bus Terminal.. I spent over 100,000 on toys for Letty |
I'll have to have another go at checking the baby rooms out. The only one I saw, was when I was a Carrefour. I tried to get in there, but it was so jam-packed with children and mothers that I couldn't even open the door more than 6 inches! So I had to rush home to feed my boy.
Also, the problem for me is that because I am...shall we say...full bosomed, the best method for me and my boy to use is what's known as the clutch hold, where you prop baby on a couple of cushions (or my bag and a soft blanket if we are out) and hold him like an American footballer would hold a football when he's running. You need a comfortable big armchair or couch for this. My sister said that a lot women in Australia who use this method have complained that the government has not provided enough facilities where woman are able to do this. I suspect it's the same in Korea (well, have you seen many korean women with a big bust?). I can nurse the conventional way, but it makes my back ache, and it's extremely uncomfortable to remain that way for 20 minutes. Also, I don't want Korean woman gawking at me (ajummas sometimes feel my boobs!) - so do they have private cubicles? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
