Woman fired for pumping at work

This company and this state that just don’t have their priorities straight.

An Ohio woman was fired for taking unauthorized breaks for pumping breast milk.  She sued, stating that the firing was sexual discrimination.  Here’s a story on the matter.

While the Ohio supreme court ruled against her, it was a close call.  One judge, Justice Paul E. Pfeifer, disagreed with the ruling, and wrote “The appellate court does not explain why Allen’s trips to the restroom outside scheduled break times were different from the restroom trips other employees made outside scheduled break times. There is no evidence in the record about any limit on the length of unscheduled restroom breaks and no evidence that employees had to seek permission from a supervisor to take an unscheduled restroom break. There is evidence only that unscheduled bathroom breaks were allowed and that LaNisa Allen was fired for taking them. What made her breaks different?”

I agree.  A milk pumping break is no different than a bathroom break.

Here in Colorado, we have a law that requires any employer of more than two employees to provide reasonable break time for nursing mothers to pump breast milk, as well as a private place to do it that isn’t a bathroom stall.  We have enacted this law because it is best for public health and workplace efficiency.  Mothers who nurse their children miss less work because their children do not get sick as often.  The mothers also get sick less often, they are less likely to suffer from post partum depression and some studies suggest that nursing reduces your chances of developing breast cancer.  Children who are nursed, in addition to getting sick less often, are less likely to become obese, develop allergies, get cavaties, are less picky eaters (and therefore more likely to eat healthy as adults).  Breastmilk is also cheaper than formula, which frees up mothers to spend money on more important things, such as better health care, healthier foods, better education for her child, etc.

Mothers who nurse and children who drink breast milk are healthier.  This equals less work missed by the mother, less school missed by the child later in life, and less of a burden on our health care system.  Both mother and  child are able to be more productive members of society and more productive workers in the long run.  Encouraging mothers to nurse creates better citizens and making it easier for them to continue nursing after going back to work makes their lives and jobs happier and easier, meaning they will be more productive.

It is in our nations best interest to encourage mothers to nurse and to do what it takes to make it easy for them.  Apparently the State of Ohio and the company this woman worked for (Isotoner) were too short sighted to see that.

Many mother’s groups are calling for a boycott of Isotoner and I agree.  I don’t buy their products anyhow, but I certainly never will now.

Birthday Wishes

Here are my birthday wishes for today, my 26th birthday.

• I wish everyone in this country had access to top quality health care.  Health care that includes as many holistic options as conventional ones.
• I wish single mothers got paid as much as married mothers.  I wish mothers got paid as much as single women.  And I wish all women got paid as much as men.
• I wish parents who abandoned their children would be held accountable for their actions, and that conservative talking heads would stop spouting cruelty about the parents who actually do stick around.
• I wish every consenting adult is able to make a legal commitment binding them in love to any other consenting adult.
• I wish the government would stop subsidizing junk food.
• I wish the whole world would go see Food Inc. and The Business of Being Born.
• I wish you would become a fan of Rock Your Birth Doula Services on Facebook.
• I wish all single moms, and especially all single pregnant women, would read Mari Gallion’s book, The Single Woman’s Guide to a Happy Pregnancy.
• I wish that President Obama would actually do something worth getting the Republicans this angry.
• I wish people would start voting for third parties.
• I wish world governments would take the 350 goals seriously.
• I wish Whole Foods hadn’t bought out Wild Oats, and Wild Oats hadn’t bought out Alfalfa’s.
• I wish Placebo hadn’t cancelled their American tour.
• I wish this country and culture would make ease of breast feeding for all women a top priority.
• I wish the United States had a maternity leave policy like Canada does.  One year off at 60% of your pay, plus one optional year off, unpaid.
• I wish mothering were recognized as the full time job that it is.
• I wish men would stop lying about how tall they are.
• I wish companies built consumer goods to last, instead of to break, become obsolete, or go out of style within a year or two (or less!).
• I wish we’d get serious about alternative fuel and energy resources.
• I wish CAFOs would go away.
• I wish we would crack down on companies who hire illegal immigrants, instead of cracking down on the illegal immigrants individually.  Companies who hire illegal immigrants usually do it so that they can commit grievous human rights violations without fear of penalty.
• I wish we focused more on Fair Trade and less on NAFTA.
• I wish all chemicals had to be tested for safety before they are put on the market in consumer goods.
• I wish drug companies weren’t allowed to advertise to the general public.
• I wish there were an ocean in Colorado, and also a place where avocados, bananas and citrus fruit would grow, then I would have no problem going to an entirely local diet.
• I wish I could speed read.
• I wish that I will be able to send Elijah to schools that don’t focus on standardized tests, especially not in Kindergarten.  On that note, I wish every parent in America would read Crisis in the Kindergarten.
• I wish I was a size 10 again.
• I wish my mouse would stop doing the weird stuff its doing.

Now I’m going to go make some potato soup for my birthday meal.  Yum.

Mommy Multitasking – Reading While You Drive

I am dead serious about this.  I read while I drive.  Even when Elijah is in the car.

I know you’re all waiting for the punchline (if you haven’t guessed it yet), so here it is.  I’ve discovered audio books.

I love to read.  I always have.  I was reading before I was in school, and its always been my favorite past time.  I never thought I would ever stop reading.  Until I had a baby.

Maybe I didn’t stop reading entirely, but my reading time was severely cut back, and most of what I was reading was parenting books, and then doula books, and now midwifery books.  While I love reading this stuff, I miss reading fiction, and other subjects as far as non fiction goes.  But I was working more, commuting more, and when I got home, I had a baby to take care of.  When did I have time to read?  I did most of my reading while pumping breast milk at work, two or three half hour breaks a day (my work was super generous and accomodating for pumping milk, more companies should be like my work was).  Other than that, I didn’t get to pursue my favorite past time really at all.

At the same time that I had to give up one of my favorite past times, I had to increase one of my least favorite; driving to and from work.  I HATE commuting.  I’m not much of a fan of driving in general, but the worst is driving in rush hour on the way to or from a place you never really wanted to be in the first place.  I have a 50 minute commute to work in the morning and an hour commute home at night (traffic is better at 6:30 in the morning, when I leave, than it is at 5 in the evening, when I go home).  Trust me, if I could take the bus to and from work, I would, but there are no lines that will get me from my house to my work in a reasonable amount of time (less than three hours). 

Anyway, since discovering audio books, my commute is finally bearable.  In fact, some days I actually look forward to it.  And in the three months since I discovered audio books (or rather, discovered that I enjoyed audio books), I’ve read more than I have in the whole 18 months my son has been alive!

I got my first audio book quite accidentally.  My Holistic Moms Network group was doing a book club for the book A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle.  I had heard a lot about this book and wanted to join them, but wasn’t sure if I’d actually finish it, and I didn’t want to spend money on the book if I wasn’t ever going to finish it.  One day at work, about half way through the month we were doing the book club, I got an email about a service that provides free audio books to service members through a service that works kind of like Netflix (they mail you the books, you listen, mail them back).  I checked out the selection.  It was mostly books on how to improve your leadership skills, not the kind of stuff I was interested in reading, but low and behold, there was A New Earth.  I signed up and ordered it, along with Total Money Makeover, The World is Flat, and An Inconvieniant Truth.

The first books that came in the mail were A New Earth and Total Money Makeover.  I listened to A New Earth First, and it didn’t take me long to realize that I was developing an obsession for audio books.  It was great!  I could drive and read!  There were so many more books I wanted to get under my belt!

Since the selection at 3Leaf Group (the Netflix like service) was pretty lame, I got the brilliant idea to see what kind of selection my local library had.  I had not had a library card for my local library since I was 15 years old.  I had abandoned my card after the Columbine shootings, because the park that Columbine High School and my local library were both in was closed up and police taped off for a month, and I was unable to return my library books, but they continued to charge me late fees!  I didn’t think I could get a new library card, but when I saw how good their audio book selection was, I had to try.  I signed up for a new card online, and picked it up on my way home from work.

I am just flabbergasted at how much reading I’ve gotten done for free, without sacrificing time from anywhere else in my life.  So far I have read:

• A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle
• The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle
• Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey
• The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
• The Last Days of Dogtown, by Anita Diamant
• Midwives, by Chris Bohjalian
• The Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan
• An Inconvieniant Truth, by Al Gore
• And I’m currently working on In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan

I can’t get enough.  As I’m writing this, I have another window open to the Jefferson County Libraries website putting audio books on my hold list.  Even if you’re not a big fan of reading, I think audio books are a great option for you.  Its enough like reading to satisfy the bookworm, but its different enough from reading to entertain the person who prefers radio or television.  In fact, listening to an audio book is very much like listening to a radio program.  You can pick something funny, romantic, tragic, informative, whatever.  Who doesn’t like to have a story told to them?

Elijah has weaned

Well, Elijah has officially weaned.

I have mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand, I loved our nursing relationship.  I’m sure that he loved our nursing relationship.  And I guess I really wanted to be one of those European-eque mothers who really extended breastfeeding.

On the other hand, he’s sleeping through the night now and my appetite has been cut in half.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months (which I was unable to do when I returned to work), and to continue breastfeeding in conjunction with solids for at least a year, and as long after as is mutually desired.  The World Health organization recommends the same, except that breastfeeding should continue in conjunction with solids for at least two years.  World wide, most babies wean between ages 2 and 3, or so I am told.  In America, most babies wean at 3 months.

Elijah and I made it 15 months.  Not bad, I suppose.  Great, by American standards.  And even though I had to supplement with formula when I went back to work when he was 10 weeks old, I think I still did pretty good keeping the nursing up.  I have no regrets (except for how soon I fed him solids, he now appears to have an egg allergy – I don’t know if its related, but doctors say the number one reason to delay solids for six months is to decrease chances of babies developing food allergies, and there are no food allergies in my family), but sometimes, I do miss our special cuddle time.

Here’s how we did it.

I went to Arkansas for two weeks for some good, old fashioned, Army training.  Elijah stayed home with my mom.  When I got back, he asked to nurse, so I tried, but it hurt and I got a sore on my nipple (just like the first time he nursed!  Why, oh why won’t he latch on correctly?), and he was frustrated because there wasn’t any milk there.  And that was it.  He asked a couple more times, but I instead offered him his sippy cup or a bottle, and now he doesn’t even ask anymore.

He and I still cuddle a lot.   We still show each other a lot of affection.  We’re still cosleeping (although that might slowly come to a halt in the coming months as well, since he’s sleeping better and better at night).  We just don’t nurse anymore.

What’s your weaning story?

Been gone a while

I haven’t been here in a while because I decided to take the month of January off from what might be classified as some as my internet addiction.  I promise I will start blogging again soon.  There is so much I want to blog about.

I’m night weaning Elijah.

Garden plans are materializing.

Juice fasting kicks ass!

Getting out and socializing.

The Colorado Garden and Home Show (I’m a big dork for this stupid event).

And maybe that crazy octuplets lady.  If I don’t find something else that I’m ranting over before I get to it.

Go Boobs!

Just a heads up for all you nursing single moms out there, August is Breastfeeding Awareness month, and next week is World Breastfeeding Week.  So whip out your boob some place public and tell objectors to shove it.  Or handle it politely, whatever.

Also, starting today, the Workplace Accomodations for Working Mothers act takes affect, requiring Colorado employers with more than 2 employees to provide reasonable break time and a private place that’s not a bathroom stall to pump breast milk during work.  Read more about it here and here, and have your boss do the same, if need be.

Also, totally un boob related, here is a cool article I read on Grist today about green and affordable grocery shopping.  Most of this stuff I already do, but for whatever bizarre reason, I still like reading about it.

Have you ever encountered negative reactions to your nursing in public?  Just Saturday some old dude at Sweet Tomatoes was giving me dirty looks, thats about the most I’ve ever gotten.  Oh yeah, and one time at the Aveda Salon I overheard some dude saying to the chick he was with, “Why do people have to do that in public?”  I wanted to tell him, “Specifically to freak out prudes like you”.