Michigan's Mackinac Bridge (Photo by Cece Chen)

The legislation now also prohibits removing a child from a car seat to nurse while the vehicle is in motion. Babies should only be nursed once the vehicle has been stopped in a safe place. With this change, Michigan is now eligible for additional federal traffic safety funds.

My spies tell me that some Michigan moms questioned why the new law specifically references breastfeeding. If you say that babies always need to be in their car seats when the vehicle is in motion, then arguably you do not need to say there is no exception for breastfeeding. However, the past exemption and recent cases of mothers driving while breastfeeding make the clarification a good idea!

What about you, moms? Have you ever taken your baby out of the car seat to nurse while the vehicle is in motion (you can post anonymously)? Have you ever gotten out of your seat belt to nurse your baby still strapped in the car seat (trust me, it can be done, even if it’s not safe)? Or do you always keep on driving with a screaming baby until it is safe to pull over to nurse?

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Photo courtesy of jessicafm

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

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Interactions like those refuel my tank. Sometimes it gets discouraging to hear stories of women harassed for breastfeeding in public, and to hear criticism of women who promote breastfeeding, and to see such low rates of breastfeeding initiation and continuation. What a pleasant surprise to be complimented and acknowledged for breastfeeding!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

1. Watch your baby’s cues (rooting, fist in mouth, any fussing) and feed her before she starts to cry. It’s a lot harder to nurse inconspicuously when you’re trying to latch on a wailing newborn!

2. Consider whether you will be more comfortable using nursing clothing or regular clothing. Sometimes for me it’s easier to hike up a regular shirt than it is to fiddle with a nursing shirt. However, at a formal event (like the wedding ceremony I attended briefly yesterday) it is lovely to have a nursing dress rather than having to wear a two-piece outfit or excuse oneself to a private location to hike up a dress!

3. Along the same lines, consider whether using a nursing cover of some sort makes it more difficult or easier to nurse. If you are uncomfortable nursing in public without a cover, then by all means use one, but personally I find it very hard to maneuver a cover over me and the baby and still be able to see to latch the baby on. Plus it’s just too darn hot in the summer in California to use a cover. My motto: do what works for you!

4. Ignore everyone around you! The more you fret over who might be watching and what people might be thinking, the harder it will be to give your baby the attention she needs.

5. It does not bother me to see any level of exposure of a mother’s breast or nipple during a nursing session. I don’t even like to bring up the word “discreet.” What I will say is that the vast majority of nursing mothers do want to be considerate of others around them, and do wish to maintain as much modesty as possible when nursing in public. Having said all that, remember that you are likely much more covered than you think you are when you are nursing in public. I cannot count the number of times people have thought my baby was sleeping in my arms rather than nursing. Granted it’s not easy to get a newborn latched on, but it gets easier and easier (until you’ve got a wiggly toddler and that’s a whole other issue!)

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

8-13.5-104. Right of nursing mothers to express breast milk in workplace – private location – discrimination prohibited.

(1) An employer shall provide reasonable unpaid break time or permit an employee to use paid break time, meal time, or both, each day to allow the employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for up to two years after the child’s birth.

(2) The employer shall make reasonable efforts to provide a room or other location in close proximity to the work area, other than a toilet stall, where an employee can express breast milk in privacy.

(3) An employer that makes reasonable efforts to accommodate an employee who chooses to express breast milk in the workplace shall be deemed to be in compliance with the requirements of this section.

(4) The Department of Labor and Employment shall provide, on its website, information and links to other web sites where employers can access information regarding methods to accommodate nursing mothers in the workplace. The Department shall consult with appropriate organizations or associations to determine the appropriate information and web site links to provide on the Department’s web site so as to provide employers with the most accurate and useful information available.

(5) Before an employee may seek litigation for a violation of this section, there shall be nonbinding mediation between the employer and the employee.

Read the full text of the law, including definitions and a legislative declaration on the benefits of breastfeeding and definitions, here. A separate Colorado law already provides that “A mother may breastfeed in any place she has a right to be.”

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

1. Painful latch. For the first few days, I winced as the baby latched on. I checked for a good latch, and everything seemed okay. I could tell she was transferring milk well (jaw movement, swallowing, and subsequent wet and dirty diaper output). The pain also lessened after the initial latch, and improved when the transitional milk started coming in.

I used expressed breast milk to heal the one crack that appeared on my left nipple. I would have used Lansinoh but it never got that bad.

2. Painful letdown. Unfortunately, when the milk came in there was an overabundant supply. While I suppose I would rather deal with oversupply than low supply, it comes with its own set of complications. One of them is an intensified feeling of pins and needles as the milk lets down. It’s temporary and fleeting and I can deal with it (now being familiar with the sensation). I also recall that this feeling goes away when my milk supply regulates in a couple of months.

3. Painful engorgement. When my second child was born, I didn’t have to deal with engorgement because my first child was tandem nursing and she quite efficiently drained my breasts anytime I started to feel over-full. This time I am not tandem nursing, and I have had to hand express when I start to get engorged. Then I ice my breasts to reduce inflammation and slow milk production. I know some women swear by cold cabbage leaf compresses, but they never worked for me.

I have also been block nursing — nursing on one side per nursing session. That helps drain each breast fully, ensures that my nursling does not develop green stools, and lowers milk production overall.

4. Painful plugged ducts. When I spiked a 102.5 degree fever on day five after the birth, and I started to feel cramping and back pain much like labor, that was too much for my body to handle. In the kick-you-when-you’re-down tradition of breast infections, I developed a plugged duct that eventually became red and inflamed. I rested, got plenty of fluids, and nursed, nursed, nursed on that side. I also tried a couple of remedies that I think help — but I am not a doctor and I have no proof these work at all. File them under “can’t hurt, might help.” I took cranberry supplements (I figure if they help fight the bad bacteria that cause bladder infections, they might do the same for breast infections) and drank diluted grapefruit seed extract. All I know is, the next day the red and inflamed spot was gone.

It’s day 8 as I write this, and I feel good. Everything is under control again. Perhaps the benefit of all that breastfeeding experience is that I know that with time, any problems do resolve, and perseverance is rewarded many times over with a successful nursing relationship.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

1. How those tiny flailing hands get in the way of latching on.

2. How I always manage, accidentally, to drop food crumbs on the baby’s head.

3. How it’s a learning experience for both mom and baby, no matter how many other babies mom has nursed.

4. How much help and support mom and baby need (and not just with breastfeeding — with everything!)

5. How helpful (restful!) it is to master the side-lying position.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

For first-time moms it can take three to four days for the milk to begin transitioning to mature milk. With second or later births, it might take two to three days. For me, with this third birth, the transitional milk started coming in exactly 2.5 days after the birth.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

The Salt Lake Tribune reported on the judge’s decision to deny the TRO after yesterday afternoon’s hearing:

[Judge] Walther acknowledged the nutritional and bonding benefits of breast-feeding. “But every day in this country, we have mothers who go back to work after six weeks of maternity leave,” she said. “The court has made a determination that the environment those children were in was not safe,” said Walther, adding that there is a shortage of suitable placements for infants in Texas.

The judge said she would leave it up to CPS officials and the attorneys to work something out on the breast-feeding. The attorneys, however, said so far they’ve been unable to come to agreement.

Shari Pulliam, a spokeswoman for CPS, said the agency plans to proceed with plans to send the women home. “We don’t place adult women in foster care,” she said. “Our main thing is to protect children from abuse and neglect.”

Some breastfeeding proponents have rallied around the FLDS mothers. Certified lactation counselor Nicole D. Hoff has set up a website, FLDS Children Have Right to Breastmilk, on which she says:

This site [is] about the FLDS babies that deserve breast milk and the mothers that are breastfeeding for their children. This site is about the nutritional and bonding benefits of breastfeeding. The site is not about polygamy, not about religion, not about abuse. It is not my place to judge where or not the children should be, or who the children should be with. This is about making sure the children that were breastfeeding continue to have optimal nutrition, breast milk.

What would you like to see happen? Do you think the judge should have allowed the breastfeeding mothers to remain with their children in state custody? Should supervised breastfeeding visits be allowed? Should the mothers be allowed to have their expressed breast milk fed to their children in custody? It’s easy to say that everyone should keep the best interests of the children in mind, but obviously not everyone is in agreement about what is in the best interests of the children.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3