Activistas

Don't Forget! Join Us Saturday to Distribute Breastfeeding Friendly Stickers

It's supposed to be nice out, mamas, so why not meet us for coffee and a purposeful stroll down (and back up!) SE Hawthorne tomorrow?  We'll bring the stickers and you bring your walking shoes  - and breastfeeding babies!  It was exciting to see this trek highlighted in this week's inPortland section of The Oregonian - complete with a picture of the striking blue & white symbol.  Check our earlier discussion about this for  details and a great list of everyone's BFF places to breastfeed around town.  See you tomorrow!

Breastfeeding Friendly: Look for the Symbol

Thanks to Mothering magazine for coming up with a great, international symbol for breastfeeding.  When we first came across it in December, we hatched the idea of getting some and distributing them around town to any retail establishment that would agree to post it in their window.  'Cause surely there are some proud breastfeeding friendly establishments who would be willing to offer a friendly beacon to hungry babes and their milky mamas.  Well, we're about to find out!

Yeah, we ordered a bunch and have plans to blanket the city's commercial strips.  Wanna help?  We're starting on Saturday, 4.26.08 on SE Hawthorne.  Our thinking is to start here - we'll have 3-4 kids in tow so it'll be a s-l-o-w sticker distribution parade - and go forth and conquer the  rest of commercial Portland  later that day or some other day  when we're up for it again. 

Join us!  If Hawthorne is your neck of the woods, meet us at 9:30 AM at Common Grounds @ 4321 SE Hawthorne.  If it's pouring rain, fuggedaboutit.  We'll reschedule.  I'm devoted but there's a limit.  If Hawthorne's not your neck of the woods but you're into this, let us know what commercial strip you're ready to conquer and we'll hook you up with some stickers.  Or, if you know of the perfect, single establishment that absolutely wants and will post a sticker, that can be arranged.  Once they're up, we'll post a list on urbanMamas.

The BF Place in Town? No, I don't still swear with a 5-year old in my midst.  By BF I mean Breastfeeding Friendliest.  In your humble opinion, what restaurant, store, ladies lounge, wherever spot is the single best public place you have found to breastfeed in Portland?  While I'm one week post-weaning (yes, very bittersweet), I recall the joy at locating a supportive place to rest and nurse when I was out and about and can imagine that there are lots of unexpected and mostly undiscovered BF places to be shared.  So do tell.  Milky mamas all over Portland will rejoice in the new knowledge.

Ban Formula in Hospital Gift Bags?

Should hospitals encourage breastfeeding by curbing distribution of those Similac or Enfamil freebie goodie bags they give away in the hospitals?  Apparently, "Portland is the first city in the nation to have both public and private hospitals ban the formula sample packs", according to the site BantheBags.org.  The O reports: A recent article in the American Journal of Public Health cites one of our epidemiologists saying that hospitals shouldn't be giving out free formula when new moms are discharged from the hospital.  It discourages breastfeeding.

Should we ban the bags (of formula)?  If not formula, then what goodies would you consider appropriate to send home with new mamas from the hospitals with their newborns?  Did you get a goodie pack?  Did you use all the stuff inside?

Bottles & Formula: Just What is Safe???

One of our fave organizations, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), just released a report on the safety of baby bottles and formula.  Not surprisingly, they found that both bottles and formula leach a potentially dangerous chemical, Bisphenol-A. Yeah, right on into your baby.  Nice.  Here we go, back to that exhausting topic of living the Plan B life in a Plan A world.

And this one touches us all, mamas, except those who nursed 100% of the time.  And these days, whatever your gig (working, staying at home, dating, traveling), it's pretty hard to never use a bottle.  And even then, there's all those toxins in our breast milk.  Arrgghhh, you just can't win!

Breastfeeding Friendly? Say It Out Loud!

This excellent picture is the official breastfeeding friendly symbol.  Makes me smile just looking at it.  I'm thinking that we ought to get Portland businesses using this thing.  Seen any around town?  Mothering magazine has made it very easy to download the image and spread it 'round, and the fabulous artist signed it over to the Public Domain.  Stickers and t-shirts are available, too.  They developed it through a contest, and you can check out the 12 semi-finalists.  You won't regret it. 

Enjoy and hey, let's get this symbol up in Pdx.  I can think of about 10 retail places that would be a great start - you?  If we can't show it off in Portland, mamas, who can???  I mean really.

To see my fave that didn't win - read on...

Activistas Coffee Hour ~ Informed. Inspired. Connected.

Wow, am I impressed.  And not just with Urban Grind's awesome play areas, or our fabulous child care provider who hung with the kids while we mamas chatted and learned.  But with Diane Garrett, a NMC member and very active volunteer who patiently spearheaded the effort to pass Oregon's breastfeeding at work legislation.  She was so inspiring I found myself pondering an Activista of the Year award.  She gets my vote this year, hands down.  So if you missed us but wished you hadn't, here's the short & sweet on the two topics we covered:

Be a NMC Peer Counselor: NMC offers two trainings each year for new peer counselors: fall & spring.  The fall 2007 training starts THIS SATURDAY at Legacy Emanuel Hospital - but you can still sign up.  It's one full Saturday followed by four Monday evenings.  If you're interested, call (503.344.4035) or e-mail Rachel Martinez, New Membership Orientation & Volunteer Training Coordinator. Compared to La Leche League, the training is far less time-consuming: 15 hours total to get started, and the volunteer work is all do-able from your own home/cell phone.  An excellent way to help other mamas by sharing your expertise.

Learn to Have an Effective Citizen Voice: We also learned about the challenges & opportunities for citizen activists from a very committed, realistic and ultimately successful mama (from whose hard work all families will benefit).  Diane felt her way straight to Congress!  The sense that I left with is that it's not hard to make a strong impression, but you have to know how and where and be brave enough and persistent enough (sorry, Nike) to just do it.  Meet with OR members of the U.S. Senate and Congress while in DC for other business/pleasure?  Just pick up the phone! Got a compelling personal story that could sway state legislators?  Share it with key committee members. 

And whatever form your activism takes (they're all good!), know that constituents speaking from the heart on issues that matter to them are far more persuasive than the 1,000s of issue organizations out there lobbying legislators.  Your power is in the fact that you are, well, just a citizen.  You need not be a fabulous public speaker or a policy wonk.  You just need to speak up.  And the more real the better.  Remember Erin Brokavich?  Feel your power, mamas.  It's in there, we just got to let it out to do its thing.  And if you're not the march-on-Salem type, no worries!  E-mails, letters & phone calls are plenty effective & can easily fit into your busy schedule.  Pick your poison, mamas, and start creating change.

And finally, at every Activistas gathering, you have an opportunity to take on-the-spot action. This time, we signed a letter to Rep. Earl Blumenauer asking him to support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2007.  Download it if you missed us at Urban Grind: Download breastfeeding_promotion_act_of_2007_support_letter_10.07.doc

Activistas Coffee Hour with NMC 10.06.07

Last we met was 08.21.07 at Milagros to connect with other activist-minded urbanMamas & Papas.  We made some great connections and shared ideas for creating a great forum for action.  This time we'll be doing more connecting, sharing, chatting, and kid playing, PLUS, learning about the Nursing Mothers Counsel of Oregon and the important role its staff and members played in passing the 2007 legislation in Salem that requires employers of 25 or more employees to provide a mother unpaid time and a private place to express milk every four hours during the work day (with an exception for business if doing so would cause hardship on business operations).  OK, so it's not perfect (what about nursing mamas in small companies?), but it's a great leap forward that not all states have made.  NMC has loads of resources on its web site, including a newsletter, solid background on Breastfeeding Moms and the Law, and, of course, Lactivism 101.

Be a Peer Counselor: In addition to its role in promoting breastfeeding-friendly policies, NMC's main focus is personal support for breastfeeding mamas.  It accomplishes this through a network of well-trained volunteers who answer a hotline.  If that sounds interesting and you've got at least six months of breastfeeding experience, check out its volunteer information - they need bilingual peer counselors so spread the word!

If you're interested in meeting up & learning more about NMC, join us on October 6th - and bring the kids!  Urban Grind has extraordinary play areas (there's another every time I go!) and there will be child care.

Activista Coffee Hour
Saturday, October 6th
9:30 - 11 AM
Chat & play with the kids from 9:30 - 10 AM
NMC Exchange 10 - 11AM
Urban Grind NE, 2214 NE Oregon Street

Don't forget to check out our recent post on pumping issues

Donating Breastmilk: How does it work?

You probably saw the request for breast milk on the main urbanMamas page.  When I stopped breastfeeding my son several years ago, I sadly trashed bags and bags of frozen breast milk.  I was fortunate to be a milky mama with pump success, so the freezer was always full (laregly due to my workplace having a locking room where I was able to pump during work hours).  Before getting rid of it, though, I researched other options because I had heard of a milk bank somewhere in CA (natch) - how great is that idea?  The requirements were strict, though, and I couldn't be sure my milk would meet the standards (e.g., I drank alcohol while breastfeeding, may have taken medicine, who knows?), so to the trashcan it all went. 

Now that I see another mama needing milk for her fragile baby, I wonder if there's a better way - are there more milk banks now than there were in 2005 when I did my research?  The Human Milk Banking Association of North America shows that there are 11 official milk banks in the states, but none in Portland - sort of surprising.  Good opportunity for a mamapreneur!

Have you donated breastmilk?  Locally?  Mailed it (yikes)?  Dumped it?  What resources are there for milky mamas with a freezer full to spare?  And for mamas who need breastmilk - how best to get ahold of the precious liquid? 

I pump, You pump, We all pump. Right? Nope.

Go ahead, put yourself in these shoes: You're taking a 9-hour medical exam (eek!), you're away from your infant to take it, you studied for the exam with an infant (heroic!), and you aren't allowed to pump during the exam.  But it's 2007, you say?  But it's America, I say.

Moms Rising is hot on this one.  They've got a great petition you can sign lickety split to show your support for breastfeeding and pumping across the country (and, by extension, working mothers' rights more generally).  The Breastfeeding Promotion Act (H.R. 2236) is in Congress right now and our Representatives and Senators should know if you want to see it passed.  Tell 'Em, Mamas.  Sign the petition.  Tell 'em that nursing mothers need to pump (duh). That it's time to walk the walk.  82% of American women are mothers by the time they're 44.  That's a lot of Mamastituents, folks.  Surely we can prevail here.  We're really not asking for much.  Just some common decency.

The short & sweet on the bill: It would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to protect breastfeeding by new mothers by providing tax credits to employers who provide a place to breastfeed and/or provide breast pumps.  Keep tabs on this bill's progress on GovTrack.  It'll give you that "I'm just a bill" feeling. 

Oregon, Sweet, Oregon: We're relatively lucky here in Oregon, what with the hard-won legislation in the 2007 legislative session allowing women who work for employers with 35+ employees to take unpaid time to pump while at work.  For more about this new legislation, check out the Nursing Mothers Council of Oregon - they've even got a Lactivism page, with some good ideas for promoting breastfeeding and raising consciousness.  And for some unbiased facts, the National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL) does a great job summarizing breastfeeding laws in all 50 states (as of July, 2007).

Read on if you want the full scoop from Moms Rising.

Breastfeeding in the Workplace - the bill that passed

Last week, Oregon's Senate passed HB 2372. The law requires most employers to provide two 30-minute unpaid rest periods for pumping during an 8-hour work day. Employers are also required to provide a private location for the employee to express milk. The law does not cover employers with fewer than 25 employees, and it exempts employers if the requirements pose an “undue hardship” in light of the size, financial resources, nature or structure of the employer’s business. This new law comes with a stiff penalty for violations: the Oregon Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries may assess a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for willful violations of the law.

Progress? Room for improvement? Have you encountered issues previously when trying to pump or nurse at work?