Breastfeeding Mom Denied!
Posted September 1st, 2007 by AnitaDoctors agree that breastmilk is best for infants, but their own licensing board isn’t following doctor’s orders. Sophie Currier recently learned that when it comes to supporting breastfeeding, many of our leaders–whether they are in the medical establishment (as in Sophie’s case), business sector, or elsewhere–still don’t “walk the talk.” You see, Sophie was denied breast pumping breaks during her nine hour medical licensing exam. She’s not alone. Even in this day and age when the medical evidence is clear that breastfeeding is best for infants, women are regularly denied the time and location to pump.
SUPPORT THE BREASTFEEDING PROMOTION ACT! Sign the Statement of Support for breastfeeding moms everywhere now: “Healthcare professionals inform us that breastfeeding is the best possible way to ensure that babies thrive. In turn, we must ensure that breastfeeding mothers are able to breastfeed, and given the time and environment to pump at work or during other professional obligations.” Congress and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) need to hear that breastfeeding must be supported for all moms, and that we support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act which is currently before Congress.
*To sign the Statement of Support for breastfeeding moms, just go to: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/momsrising/signUp.jsp?key=2614
*Please forward this email to friends!
After you sign the Statement of Support, please forward this email to friends and family so they can sign on as well! Your voice can make a difference: When a subsidiary of Delta Airlines kicked a woman off an airplane for breastfeeding, we sent them a petition with more than 20,000 MomsRising signatures, and shortly afterwards the airline apologized and instituted a new training program for their employees.
STAND WITH SOPHIE, JANEE, AND MOTHERS ACROSS THE NATION! Women like Janee McConnell could also use the Breastfeeding Promotion Act. Janee worked in a grocery store that had a health consciousness she admired. She was such a committed employee that she rose to a management job quickly and was called a “rock star” by the other employees. After her third child was born, she tried to pump at work but there was no private place to go other than a dirty, windowless electrical room. When her milk supply dropped she spoke up but store management was unsympathetic. She resigned from her management position and eventually from the store all together.
Frankly, we all lose when we don’t support mothers– businesses lose excellent employees, infants lose important nutrients, and women lose needed jobs. No mom should have to choose between keeping her job and feeding her baby and protecting her own health.
SHARE YOUR STORY: Many of us mothers know personally what it’s like to juggle breastfeeding babies and work. Some of us have also experienced the pain of engorgement and the risk of mastitis when feeding or pumping doesn’t occur every few hours. Stories like this are common. You may even have experienced something similar yourself. *Share your story on our blog at: http://www.momsrising.org/node/573
All too often women aren’t able to breastfeed their babies even though the American Academy of Pediatrics tells us it’s one of the most important things we can do for a child’s health. Let’s send a strong message together that it’s time to “walk the talk” for healthy infants and mothers.
*Don’t forget to sign the Statement of Support to tell the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) and Congress that we want breastfeeding to be supported for all moms–and to forward this email to friends so they can sign on too. Just click here to sign on now: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/momsrising/signUp.jsp?key=2614
Best — Anita, Nanette, Kristin, Mary, Joan, Ashley, Katie, and Donna
P.S. THE LOWDOWN ON THE BREASTFEEDING PROMOTION ACT: Representative Carolyn Maloney’s Breastfeeding Promotion Act would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to protect breastfeeding by new mothers by providing tax credits to employers who provide a place to breastfeed and/or provide breast pumps. This makes it a lot easier for women who want to give their babies breastmilk and keep their jobs. As you may know, 82% of American women become mothers by the time they are forty-four years old, so this issue is critically important to a large portion of our nation. To read the bill, go to: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.2236:
SOURCES:
1. Boston Globe article on Sophie Currier: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/06/23/board_wont_relent_for_breast_feeding_mother/
2. Data about breastfeeding: http://www.aap.org/publiced/BR_BFBenefits.htm See also http://www.aap.org/breastfeeding/
-Your donations make the work of MomsRising possible. To donate today on our new, secure website go to: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/momsrising/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=2156
31 Comments
The press has released some details which are probably very embarrassing for this lady. I hope she understands that taking these special accomodations will affect her in the long run (as it already has, you can get in and make it by taking these special accomodations but in the long run you will have trouble).
No wonder she wants to be in research where she doesnt have to do anything. She is giving all present and potential researchers a bad name. Its too sad.
[Reply]
October 14, 2007 at 2:24 pm by Anonymousthis is ridiculous. she is giving all breastfeeding mothers a bad name.
i breast fed four children, worked, went down to the first floor and sat on the floor to nurse a baby during my lunch 1/2 hour. I think it is safe to say that she is a spoiled brat. If you want to do this You need to sacrifice for your child. The child is the most important thing. If you want to be a Marine, the Marines should not be required to allow you to carry your nursing infant in to battle. This is precisely the same thing. Learn to make choices. The world is not your oyster.
[Reply]
September 21, 2007 at 6:18 pm by AnonymousMs. Currier has 8 hours each day to take the exam (double what anyone else gets) with 45 mins break each day. On top of that time, if she finishes any section early (which I would hope she would considering she has double the time to take it) she has the remaining time alotted for that section as a break on top of the 45 mins given each day. She has PLENTY of time! Asking for even more is quite ridiculous.
[Reply]
September 26, 2007 at 3:03 pm by AnonymousAs a nursing mom (who got her PhD in Organic Chemistry two years ago), I just wanted to say that EVERYONE who takes the doctoral exams is given a 45 minute break from the tests, not just folks with a disability. Plus, if you finish one section early, you can use the rest of the time as a break.
I don’t have any issues with her getting to take her exams over two days instead of one because of her disabilities. But honestly, 45 minutes is plenty of time to pump milk for a baby even if you don’t use an electric pump, especially considering that the school provided Sophie with the opportunity to pump in a private room and even to go off campus during the breaks in the tests. Frankly, the school already went out of its way to accomodate Sophie, and Sophie is being a whiny brat, pushing for more special treatment. She’s making the rest of us nursing moms look bad and I’m really pissed about it. Given that she’s failed the test before, I wouldn’t be surprised if she wanted an extra hour to run home (since she’s allowed to), and scan through literature hoping to cram in just a little more information between the sections.
[Reply]
September 16, 2007 at 1:54 pm by Anonymous” That’s 4 1/2 hours each day. Certainly she can breast feed right before and then again right after without running the risk of engorgement and mastitis.”
Glad you haven’t had plugged ducts or engorgement from going so long without breastfeeding. I for one, can’t go that long. More than 3 or 3.5 hours, and I have plugged ducts. I am prone to them–six or seven times in the last 5 months. In fact, I’m sitting here with a heating pad on the upper lateral portion of my right breast as we speak, because yesterday at work (I’m an RN on a busy hospital floor) I had to go 4.25 hours without pumping. Ouch.
[Reply]
March 29, 2008 at 2:42 pm by BillHey, so did she pass her test after she won the accomodation to breast feed ?
NOOOOOOOOOO!
Hey, Dr. Currier, care to comment ?
Would you like a free pass ? HOw about 3 days to do the test ? Or 4 ?
[Reply]
September 19, 2007 at 9:39 pm by Anonymousi agree with the previous post.
i hate how the press has distorted this. this has nothing to do with breast feeding. this is really about how much people should be accomodated in situations where people are supposed to have a uniform experience and work environment.
if dr. currier wants extra time to take an exam because of her ADHD / breast feeding, is it legitimate for me to ask for extra time because i get headaches during examinations or because i have a small bladder. should the NBA give me a foot stool and give me a 50 second head start on the opposing defense so i can use my 5’6″ frame to dunk ?
now that she is trying to start this “prestigious” residency in clinical pathology, should i, as a patient, rely on her judgments made while she is unable to be attentive or breastfeeding ? hmmmmm. that inspires confidence. thank goodness clinical pathology is NOT a prestigious residency nor do clinical pathologists typically have contact with patients.
you want to know why employers look askance at working mothers ? because of people like sophie currier. this is a test, which other people have to study for and take whether they are feeling porrly, sick, menstruating, etc…. breastfeeding is not an illness. pregnancy is not an illness. child rearing and hild bearing is a choice. accomodations can and should be made for that, but within reason.
in residency and in medicine, there is always work to be done. if dr. currier doesn’t do her work because she needs more time than everyone else is that FAIR to her fellow residents ? is it FAIR to her patients ?
is it FAIR to the generations of women before and now who, take advantage of reasonable accomodations made to them and used them to the good of everyone by doing their jobs effectively and well? is dr. currier the kind of woman whom you want to celebrate on this site ?
i think not.
[Reply]
September 20, 2007 at 12:50 pm by AnonymousI think you are making a bigger deal of this than is warranted. In fact, it is making women look ridiculous.
It isn’t a big deal to express breast milk during the breaks, and she is getting plenty of breaks; an extra day because she can’t read, and now she wants a 2 hour break because she thinks she can’t pump milk for 2 hours during the exam.
I don’t think this is a breastfeeding issue, I think this is an issue of a woman that just wants extra special treatment. She is already getting special treatment with the second day of testing and splitting the test into 2 parts, how much more does this woman want? Her choice to have kids during medical school is her choice, but she has to get a clue and realize that that choice doesn’t meant that the rest of the world has to give her special treatment for having them.
[Reply]
September 4, 2007 at 12:28 pm by AnonymousThis is not directly related to pumping/nursing while at work, but is related to a baby and mother’s right to nurse in “public”. A KY mother and baby nursing in a corner booth at Applebees were interupted by restaurant staff and told to cover up with a blanket. Later, a corporate office told her they were thinking of buying a supply of blankets for any nursing mothers and babies in their restaurants! Some babies won’t nurse under a blanket and the law in KY (and some other states) prohibits interfering with nursing.
I think this highlights the importance of better, national laws with enforcement mechanisms to protect nursing moms/babies.
On Saturday, Sept. 8, breastfeeding supporters are across the nation are holding nurse-ins or nurse-outs at Applebees restaurants to bring publicity to this problem.
Here’s one site with additional info: http://www.breastfeeding123.com/applebees-cooking-up-breastfeeding-trouble/
and here’s a news article about it: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070829/NEWS01/70829041/1008/NEWS01
[Reply]
September 3, 2007 at 11:59 am by AnonymousWhy are we now a country that would accept people carrying guns vs women breastfeeding their children.
We have lost site of LIFE!
[Reply]
Leave a Comment