On August 7th Philadelphia dietitian Jennifer Lengyel, representing the Pennsylvania Academy, joined the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) on Capital Hill for their annual Advocacy Day of Action. Lengyel along with over 50 nation-wide lactation consultants, doctors, and other practitioners met with legislators to discuss how \u201cbreastfeeding is bipartisan\u201d and bring awareness to the importance of breastfeeding polices and programs for American families.<\/p>\n
Specifically, the USBC advocates educated legislators on the following:<\/p>\n
\u2013 Maternity Care Practice Improvement Programs such as the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) which is an accreditation program that requires \u201cTen Steps to Successful Breastfeeding\u201d in facilities to increase breastfeeding rates. Advocates asked that legislators maintain the current CDC funding program, EMPower, which provides support for facilities who want to implement BFHI.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Support and Maintenance of Preventive Services such as breastfeeding counseling, education, supplies to fall under health plan coverage without cost-sharing, and align Medicaid coverage to ensure equitable access for all.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Cosponsor the Supporting Working Moms Act which will ensure that every employed breastfeeding mother (hourly and salaried) has sufficient time and a safe place to express breast milk at work.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Support the Friendly Airports for Mothers Act which would require airports to provide a private, non-bathroom space in each terminal for mothers to express breast milk.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Support the Fairness for Breastfeeding Mothers Act which would require that certain public buildings contain a public lactation room.<\/p>\n
To find out more about USBC, visit www.USBreastfeeding.org<\/p>\n
Lengyel learned a tremendous amount of information about these breastfeeding programs and where dietitians may play an important role in supporting breastfeeding women and families.<\/p>\n
As dietitians, we are experts on nutrition and health promotion for the entire life cycle. What could be more relevant than supporting nourishment of infants through breastfeeding? Ask yourself: Do you work in a hospital that has a \u201cBaby-friendly\u201d designation? Are you familiar with and\/or support the breastfeeding policies and resources at your facility? To learn more about the Pennsylvania breastfeeding efforts and how you can support them, visit www.pabreastfeeding.org<\/p>\n
Photo: from left to right, Jennifer Lengyel, Darell Rico Doss (Legislative Counsel to Congressman Dwight Evans), Dr. Gail Herrine from USBC, and Alyssa Innis (Legislative Correspondent to Congressman Dwight Evans)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On August 7th Philadelphia dietitian Jennifer Lengyel, representing the Pennsylvania Academy, joined the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) on Capital Hill for their annual Advocacy Day of Action. Lengyel along with over 50 nation-wide lactation consultants, doctors, and other practitioners met with legislators to discuss how \u201cbreastfeeding is bipartisan\u201d and bring awareness to the importance of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":3092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10713,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3107\/revisions\/10713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}