Nanny Staters 2 and the bitchy women they create

You think breastfeeding will be a lifestyle choice? This AP story says otherwise.

The government's new health care overhaul requires large employers to provide private places for working mothers to pump breast milk. And under a provision enacted April 1 by the Joint Commission, a hospital accrediting agency, hospitals may be evaluated on their efforts to ensure that newborns are fed only breast milk before they're sent home.1

The pediatrics academy says babies should be given a chance to start breast-feeding immediately after birth. Bartick said that often doesn't happen, and at many hospitals newborns are offered formula even when their mothers intend to breast-feed.

``Hospital practices need to change to be more in line with evidence-based care,'' Bartick said. ``We really shouldn't be blaming mothers for this.''

THE RESULT:In Minnesota, a couple were evicted from a restaurant because, the woman claims, the restaurant asked her to cover up while breastfeeding. The restaurant says the husband was verbally agressive.

Minnesota law says, "A mother may breast-feed in any location, public or private, where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be, irrespective of whether the nipple of the mother's breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breast-feeding."

"Morton said she had a baby blanket with her, but Dawson "just won't keep it on."

"I decided why fight with him," she said. "I knew my rights, so I removed the blanket and let him eat."

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1 Link to Join Commission National Quality Core Commission rationale. (Notice what organization is listed first.) "Exclusive breast milk feeding for the first 6 months of neonatal life has long been the expressed goal of World Health Organization (WHO), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). "