Boobs — we can all agree that they are pretty great.
It is becoming widely recognized that “breast is best” — that breast feeding is better for infants than formula.
A new study done in the United Kingdom found that breast-fed kids outperform their formula-fed peers in tests of reading, writing and mathematics, all the way up until they are 14 years old. Mothers also benefit from breast feeding — women who breast feed have a decreased risk of breast and ovarian cancer, possibly decreased risk of osteoporosis, among other benefits.
But even with these known benefits of breast feeding, less than 43 percent of American women breast feed for six months, the time recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
One of the main reasons women choose not to breast feed is not because of a lack of desire to, but instead because of the lack of maternity leave policy allowing them to do so.
The current state of maternity leave in the United States is abysmal. While most of the world has policies that guarantee paid maternity leave, a 2010 study by Human Rights Watch of 190 countries found that the U.S. is alone with Swaziland, Papua New Guinea in not guaranteeing paid maternity leave.
Federal policy allows for only 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave. Fortunately, some states such as California, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Hawaii have a state policy that is better, allowing for six weeks of paid maternity leave. But these policies generally exclude adoptive mothers.
In a country where more than 19 million families have a mother as the primary or co-breadwinner, the lack of adequate maternity leave policy has serious impacts on society, just one of which is forcing many mothers to forgo breast feeding.
An example of a country with a good maternity leave policy is Spain, where new mothers are guaranteed 16 weeks of paid leave and new fathers are guaranteed 15 days of paid paternal leave. If the U.S. were to adopt a policy similar to Spain, mothers and infants would benefit in many ways.
