Also, we struggled with thousands of dollars of debt from fertility treatments to have my child. I know many states have mandated fertility coverage – but NC does not. There are many big companies that offer some coverage in NC, but they are few and far between. Do you know of any efforts underway to bring mandated fertility coverage to NC. If so, please let me know – if not, how would you suggest I go about starting some type of campaign for it?

Thank you,
Helen

However, why do people have to struggle so much to attain some basic rights in this country? How much energy, human and natural resources are waisted to convince politicians that common people are worth their rights? Why is it such a hard to understand concept that bebies need to be fed (and desirably BREASTFED) and cared for by their parents especially during the first year of life?

I have a very hard time accepting the status quo of the FMLA and the way it is applied in the United States. It is very heartbreaking how much stigma women and especially mothers who want or have to keep their job face. In a country where parental leave is kept to a minimum, it is no wonder that breastfeeding is as rare as it is. For marketing purposes, many work places use very ambiguous language to “encourage and support” breastfeeding, but unfortunately it is left to each department’s latitude, which creates more pressure for women. Even commmunist countries used to reduce the work day to 6 working hours for mothers (up to one year) so that they can continue breastfeeding. This reduction in hours did not come with a reduction in pay. Moreover, in those communist countries mothers had 6 months paid parental leave (with the option to extend it up to one year for medical reasons without using “earned sick time”), which indeed encouraged breastfeeding and healthy babies, thus healthy adults. If parental leave is long enough, mothers will be able to breastfeed without needing to justify it to their employer and it is less likely for the babies to be fed formula and use unhealthy baby bottles and expensive pumping devices.

I just wanted to share these thoughts because it is rather suffocating to see mothers who think that the only choice they have is either to go back to work when their babies are as young as 4 weeks (if they are lucky 12) or quit their job. There must be ways to meet the two in the strongest nation in the world.

Mothers, be proud of your roles and make your voices heard because YOU MATTER and make the world a better place.

Yes, our options are meager. In plain words. IT SUCKS.