24 June 2009

watch politicians discuss breastfeeding

A piece on Huffington Post showed a Senate committee on Tuesday discussing breastfeeding and legislation that would make it easier for working moms...a bit awkward, but the committee did the right thing and voted in favor...
...allowing mothers more freedom to breastfeed longer after giving birth has obvious health benefits for the children. While Congress debates how to balance health care reform and costs, Merkley's amendment also could have economic ripples. According to the press release from the Oregon Democrat's office comes this statistic: "A recent study by the United Breastfeeding Committee found that if half of the babies in the U.S. were exclusively breastfed for six months, we would realize potential savings of up to $14 billion a year in health care costs for childhood illnesses."
Yowza...$14 billion a year in savings!

2 comments:

Jenn said...

the whole thing made me smile, nothing like a group of older men talking about breastfeeding :)

DoulaMomma said...

so true - sort of sweet in their discomfort.