Author Archive

    Motherhood and the $13 Billion Guilt

    Posted April 14th, 2010 by Melissa Bartick

    Since this month’s publication of my paper “The Burden of Suboptimal Breastfeeding in the United States” in Pediatrics with Arnold Reinhold, I’m often asked by reporters what the US can do better to improve our breastfeeding rates. I’ve also gotten quite a few comments asking if this research just makes moms feel guilty if they [...]

    Calling All Humans: Who Pays for us to Propagate?

    Posted March 1st, 2010 by Melissa Bartick

    Women now comprise about half the US workforce, according to a major story in the December 30 issue of the Economist. In other words, half our workforce bears all our children. Anyone who wants a child of one’s own must recognize that somewhere, a woman will bear that child and will likely nurse him. However, [...]

    Why breastfeeding needs to be part of health care reform

    Posted May 27th, 2009 by Melissa Bartick

    by Melissa Bartick, MD, MSc AND Marsha Walker, RN Lack of policy and infrastructure to support breastfeeding in the U.S. means that breastfeeding is made unnecessarily difficult. Breastfeeding is an important public health issue, both for women and children. Arguably, breastfeeding is also a reproductive right. Growing evidence shows that longer durations of breastfeeding are [...]