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Obscene! Or is it?
Breastfeeding. There I go starting a controversy!
Of all the things that get parents and the people who watch them riled up, breastfeeding has to be one of the most enduring. The act is encouraged yet undermined, praised yet reviled, touted as physically healthy while scourged as emotionally problematic.
Even circumcision, the other white-hot, can’t-win decision parents have to make, peters out (ha! intentional …) by the time the baby gets his first tooth. But a baby with a bottle/suckling her mother? That’s irresponsible. Disgusting! A sure sign that Mom has caved in to the formula companies/boob Nazis.
Now, I’m not trying to start a milk-squirting match between us baby-feeders. I know the mere act of stirring Carnation Comfort Proteins with filtered water is a confession of mothering failure (and by “mothering,” I am indeed speaking exclusively of women-moms). But at least pointed fingers and shaking heads are aimed at the deep personal failings of the individual who has chosen to serve formula. When it comes to hating on breastfeeders, there’s always the underlying implication that you are a sick, needy woman who has lost her identity but not the baby fat. (And also calls to go feed the kid under a blanket or in the bathroom!) Continue reading »
Breast pumps will be eligible for tax-deduction
Partisan politics in America has for decades been bickering over women’s wombs. Now the fight extends to our breasts as well.
When Michelle Obama stepped forward to promote breastfeeding, she drew criticism from the usual quarters. Tea Party celebrity Michele Bachmann was quick to critique the First Lady for her support of breastfeeding.
What happened next is more suprising. The New York Times reports that a mix of conservative and liberal allies defended Obama’s pro-breastfeeding stance, while some liberal lawmakers found themselves aligned with Bachmann’s criticism.
Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann confused by tax code.
I sure hope three-term Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann doesn’t prepare her own taxes.
If so, she’s way due for an audit!
In her response to news that the IRS now classifies breast pumps as medical equipment, thereby making them tax deductible (with many caveats), she demonstrates that she’s a boob when it comes to tax law — and also who’s in charge of it (hint: not the First Lady!).
Here’s what she told conservative radio show host Laura Ingraham on her program yesterday: Continue reading »
Upgrade to the fancy one and write that baby off!
Save your receipts, pregnant and recently post-partum mamas. Because breastfeeding supplies — including really fancy pumps! — are now tax deductible.
The IRS finally came around to what advocates, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, have said for years: breast pumps are medical supplies, not just something fun to include on a baby registry.
As such, you’re able to write them off. Continue reading »
Smart(er) boy!
Yet another study has concluded that breast is, in fact, best. But what’s even more interesting about this one is that breast-fed boys did even better than their non-breast-fed counterparts in school.
Girls? Not much of a difference.
The study, published in Pediatrics, found that infants who were nursed at least for six months performed better in school at age 10 than kids who were formula-fed. Academics at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth, Australia, looked at the academic performance of kids whose mothers had enrolled in the study years ago. They say they adjusted for gender, income, maternal education, and things like whether the kid was read to at home. Continue reading »
Working and pumping at the nation's Capitol
An article in The Seattle Times today highlights one of the perks of a Capitol Hill job gaining popularity and affection these days — the lactation suite, aka “the boob cube.”
New mothers who work in Congress used to lug their own pumps to work, hide in the bathrooms, and squat near an available electrical outlet (sound familiar?).
Not anymore. A trend is spreading in Washington that gives breastfeeding moms a state-of-the art pumping an nursing experience. Here’s what new motherhood looks like amid the votes and the bills in the nation’s capitol: Continue reading »
Airport Security: Not Breastfeeding Friendly
By now, you’ve probably heard some horror stories from people who have dealt with the Transportation Safety Authority (TSA) and the new airport screening regulations.
But CBS News’ “The Early Show” co-anchor Erica Hill knows firsthand how upsetting getting through airport security can be.
“I cried today at airport security. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and despite my best efforts, I’m almost positive my lip quivered, Hill writes over at CBS Eye on Parenting.
What got her so upset? Did they touch her “junk” or sexually assault her? No. Hill describes what happened:
There were no pat downs, no high-tech body scanners. There were simply two small bags of milk. Just over 15 ounces, gone.
Any woman who has nursed or pumped will tell you the milk is liquid gold. It’s not a cutesy term; it’s an understatement. So you can imagine the way my heart sunk as I had to leave several servings of liquid gold with a security agent tonight at London’s Heathrow airport.
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