There is evidence that breastfeeding can decrease the incidence or severity of infant illnesses such as diarrhea, ear infections and bacterial meningitis. The benefits are not only for the infant. Employers also benefit because healthier infants mean fewer parental absences and lower health care costs. In addition, research indicates that breastfeeding can reduce a mother's risk of serious medical conditions, including osteoporosis, and ovarian and premenopausal breast cancer. Despite the many benefits of breast milk, not enough babies in this country are breastfed and few are breastfed for the recommended one year.
Many women stop breastfeeding when they return to work outside the home.
The Academy believes that more babies would receive the benefits of breast milk if more employers provided appropriate facilities and adequate time in the workplace for expression of breast milk. Rep. Maloney's bill not only would help women by giving them time to express at work, but also employers, by giving them tax breaks to provide lactation facilities and support programs. In addition, the bill's provision to establish Food and Drug Administration standards for breastpumps will help to ensure that working women can efficiently supply enough milk to nourish their babies. With an efficient breast pump, the necessary amount of milk can be expressed in 20-30 minutes, two or three times per average work day. We are pleased that this legislation will regulate pumps, since the use of an inefficient pump can reduce the supply of breast milk available to the infant, and possibly discourage some mothers from continuing to express milk at work, or to breastfeed altogether.