PSC 140 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Fair Labor Standards Act, Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act, Indecent Exposure
Topics in Parenting: Part 2
● Breastfeeding
○ AAP recommends exclusive
breastfeeding for 6 months, & breastfeeding for at
least 1 year
● Evolutionary perspectives
○ Infants in hunter - gatherer societies are always carried by their mothers so they
breastfeed whenever hungry
■ Ex: Kung San
○ This was likely the pattern of infant care for 99.9% of human history
● Historical trends
○ Wet nurses common throughout history until 19th century
○ 1940s only about 20-30% babies breastfed
■ Mass intro of formulas as “better, more modern nutrition”
○ 1980s UNICEP & World Health Organization campaign for breastfeeding
■ Due in part to dramatic rise in infant mortality rates in 3rd world countries
from increasing use of baby formula
● Very dangerous to use in unsanitary water conditions
○ Currently, in western cultures, about 60 - 75 % of women try breastfeeding after
birth, but only about 15 - 20% continue for more than 6 months (CDC)
● Advantages of Breastfeeding: Baby
○ Best nutritionally (it is species - specific )
■ Higher in fat, lower in protein, iron more easily absorbed, more easily
digested compared to cow’s milk
○ Human milk protects against illness
■ Provides antibodies from the mother (builds immune system)
■ Fewer gastrointestinal infections
■ Fewer respiratory infections
■ Fewer allergies
■ Lower incidence of obesity (even in adulthood)
■ Lower incidence of SIDS (lower by 2 to 5 times the rate)
○ Baby self - regulates the production & consumption
○ Some evidence IQ differences favor breastfed babies
○ 6 - 14 times more likely to survive in poverty - stricken regions
● Advantages of Breastfeeding: mother
○ Reduces chances of hemorrhage right after birth
○ Quicker initial weight loss from pregnancy
■ Burns an extra 500 - 1000 calories per day
○ Lower incidence of breast cancer
○ Cheaper
○ Convenient
○ Promotes bonding (not just through skin - skin contact but hormonally as well
■ Release of oxytocin & prolactin
○ Can help prevent pregnancy
■ Only when mother is exclusively
breastfeeding
■ At least every 2 hours
■ Multiple times in the night
● So why not do it?
○ Can be difficult for baby & mom to coordinate nursing
■ Especially in early weeks
■ It's not an automatic response & babies are not born knowing how to
nurse
○ Inadequate milk supply in mother
○ If mother is drug - addicted of HIV+
■ In countries at increased risk for other infectious diseases, benefits of
breastfeeding outweigh increased risk of HIV
○ If mother requires certain medications
■ Ex: chemotherapy agents
● Breastfeeding issues
○ Sexualization of the breast
○ Really convenient?
■ Mother needs to nurse or pump at least every 3 hours for the first 6
months
○ Breastfeeding & working outside the home can be challenging
○ When to wean?
■ Only in western cultures infants are weaned at or before 1 year
■ Most cultures (and historical record of human species ) = 2 years or more
● Legislation (Sept. 2006)
○ Only 15 states exempted breastfeeding from public indecency laws
○ Only 10 states protected breastfeeding in the workplace
● Current legislation
○ Now, 29 states protect breastfeeding from public indecency laws
○ 2010 law protects breastfeeding in the workplace
● 2010 Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act
○ Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to require an employer to provide
“reasonable break time” (unpaid) for an employee to express breast milk for the
1st year of her child’s life, & a private room other than a bathroom to express
breast milk
○ Employer with <50 employees exempt if poses undue hardship
● Co - sleeping
○ “How we sleep, with whom we sleep, & where we sleep is molded both by culture
& custom … for most of human history, babies and children slept with their
mothers, or perhaps with both parents” - from Small (pp. 110-111)
● Co - sleeping issues
○ In almost every culture around the world babies sleep w/ a parent
○ Solitary sleep has only been happening in Western cultures for about 200 years
■ Became more popular w/ increasing value placed on “privacy” and the
“marital bed”
○ The US is the only society where babies typically sleep in a bed in their own
room
○ Co - sleeping is common even in US culture
■ But more likely for short or intermittent periods
■ Most parents are very hesitant to admit to it
● Parental values & beliefs
○ Co - sleeping more common in cultures that promote interdependence vs.
independence
○ US & “Ferberization” (letting baby cry it out to learn how to self - soothe)
● What issues have come about because of infant solitary sleep?
○ Comfort objects
○ nightmares/ night terrors
○ Longer bedtime rituals
○ Technology to simulate human contact
■ Ex: heartbeat sounds
● Co - sleeping
○ Advantages
■ May provide SIDS protection
● US has highest rate
■ Ease of breastfeeding
■ In early infancy babies sleep “Better”
■ Mother & infant physiologically entwined in sleep
● Ex: breathing
○ Disadvantages
■ May disrupt parents sleep
■ May disrupt “marital relationship”
■ Hard to get them out
■ Increases risk for accidental death if done unsafely
● Babies sleeping alone
○ Advantages
■ Parents may sleep better
■ Child learns to go to sleep alone
■ More privacy for parents
■ May protect infant from accidental suffocation
○ Disadvantages
■ SIDS risk higher
■ Harder to breastfeed
■ Have to stay awake for night - time feedings
● Is it safe to sleep with baby?
○ No drugs or alcohol for parents
○ Sleep only on a hard surface
Document Summary
Aap recommends exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, & breastfeeding for at. Infants in hunter - gatherer societies are always carried by their mothers so they breastfeed whenever hungry. This was likely the pattern of infant care for 99. 9% of human history. Wet nurses common throughout history until 19th century. Mass intro of formulas as better, more modern nutrition . 1980s unicep & world health organization campaign for breastfeeding. Due in part to dramatic rise in infant mortality rates in 3rd world countries from increasing use of baby formula. Very dangerous to use in unsanitary water conditions. Currently, in western cultures, about 60 - 75 % of women try breastfeeding after birth, but only about 15 - 20% continue for more than 6 months (cdc) Best nutritionally (it is species - specific ) Higher in fat, lower in protein, iron more easily absorbed, more easily digested compared to cow"s milk. Provides antibodies from the mother (builds immune system)
