NR 506 Week 7: RN as Healthcare Policy Leader Discussion SOLUTION
Develop a concise position statement reflecting the research findings and recommendations by experts as they relate to workplace support for breast feeding mothers.
Position Statement Supporting Breastfeeding Mothers
For the first six months in life, infants can only consume breast milk as it contains all the necessary nutrition for optimal growth and development in addition to protection by antibodies from the mother. However, studies show that new mothers in the United States do not continue breastfeeding their newborns up to the recommended period. A study carried out by the US Department of Health and Human Services, in 2011, revealed that approximately 79.2% of women in the United States initiated breastfeeding, out of which, only 49.9% breastfed their newborns up to 6 months, with 26.7% continuing to breastfeed for up to 12 months (Kim, Shin, & Donovan, 2019). These statistics have been rising over the years, with women’s employment being one of the major contributing factors. Failure to attain successful breastfeeding has also been associated with lack of adequate support from hospitals, negative societal attitude, in
convenience at the workplace, and short maternity leave. In line with Healthy People 2020, I support the idea of enhancing adequate support for maternal care and workplace breastfeeding to attain the goal of increasing the rates of breastfeeding to 82% for infants who have ever been breastfed, 61% for 6 months, and 34% for 1 year.
Supporting workplace breastfeeding is one of the biggest steps in achieving the above-mentioned goal. Most organizations have introduced several employment benefits and services for women to support breastfeeding in the
workplace. Such services and benefits include extended maternity leave, provision of high-quality breast pumps, offering part-time work during breastfeeding, allowing flexible work schedules, provision of on-site or near-site childcare, giving breastfeeding mothers options for returning to work such as teleworking, providing private spots for breastfeeding within the working premises and educating other employees on benefits and support for breastfeeding. Studies show that a third of women in the United States return to work 3 months after delivery, while two-thirds return to work after 6 months (Wallenborn et al., 2019). Consequently, working outside the home is associated with reduced breastfeeding duration. As such, adopting the above measures together with other supportive programs will greatly improve the significance of successful breastfeeding in the United States.
In my opinion, coworkers and supervisors, among others play a significant role in creating a conducing environment for breastfeeding in the workplace. For instance, employers must be able to provide adequate breastfeeding space conducive enough for new mothers at no additional cost. Space should contain basic amenities such as seats and pumping equipment. Consequently, the organization must have a reasonable break time, for about 15-20 minutes per session. Coworkers and supervisors must also promote and allow direct breastfeeding if possible either on-site or allow the new mother to leave the site. Not at any moment should the employer reduce the pay of the breastfeeding mother because of these benefits. Generally, breast milk is the most essential nutritional aspect of a child at the beginning of life. It contains all the essential nutrition to promote health, hence reducing the burden of childhood illnesses which could otherwise compromise the health of the individual later in life. As such, it is a global concern among different communities to support breastfeeding, especially at the workplace, given the current dynamic economic world.
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References
Kim, J. H., Shin, J. C., & Donovan, S. M. (2019). Effectiveness of workplace lactation interventions on breastfeeding outcomes in the United States: an updated systematic review. Journal of Human Lactation, 35(1), 100-113.
Wallenborn, J. T., Perera, R. A., Wheeler, D. C., Lu, J., & Masho, S. W. (2019). Workplace support and breastfeeding duration: The mediating effect of breastfeeding intention and self‐efficacy. Birth, 46(1), 121-128.