Breastfeeding Mom Denied!
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GoogleDoctors agree that breastmilk is best for infants, but their own licensing board isn't following doctor's orders. Sophie Currier recently learned that when it comes to supporting breastfeeding, many of our leaders--whether they are in the medical establishment (as in Sophie's case), business sector, or elsewhere--still don't "walk the talk." You see, Sophie was denied breast pumping breaks during her nine hour medical licensing exam. She's not alone. Even in this day and age when the medical evidence is clear that breastfeeding is best for infants, women are regularly denied the time and location to pump.
SUPPORT THE BREASTFEEDING PROMOTION ACT! Sign the Statement of Support for breastfeeding moms everywhere now: "Healthcare professionals inform us that breastfeeding is the best possible way to ensure that babies thrive. In turn, we must ensure that breastfeeding mothers are able to breastfeed, and given the time and environment to pump at work or during other professional obligations." Congress and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) need to hear that breastfeeding must be supported for all moms, and that we support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act which is currently before Congress.
*To sign the Statement of Support for breastfeeding moms, just go to: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/momsrising/signUp.jsp?key=2614&t=petition.dwt
*Please forward this email to friends!
After you sign the Statement of Support, please forward this email to friends and family so they can sign on as well! Your voice can make a difference: When a subsidiary of Delta Airlines kicked a woman off an airplane for breastfeeding, we sent them a petition with more than 20,000 MomsRising signatures, and shortly afterwards the airline apologized and instituted a new training program for their employees.
STAND WITH SOPHIE, JANEE, AND MOTHERS ACROSS THE NATION! Women like Janee McConnell could also use the Breastfeeding Promotion Act. Janee worked in a grocery store that had a health consciousness she admired. She was such a committed employee that she rose to a management job quickly and was called a "rock star" by the other employees. After her third child was born, she tried to pump at work but there was no private place to go other than a dirty, windowless electrical room. When her milk supply dropped she spoke up but store management was unsympathetic. She resigned from her management position and eventually from the store all together.
Frankly, we all lose when we don't support mothers-- businesses lose excellent employees, infants lose important nutrients, and women lose needed jobs. No mom should have to choose between keeping her job and feeding her baby and protecting her own health.
SHARE YOUR STORY: Many of us mothers know personally what it's like to juggle breastfeeding babies and work. Some of us have also experienced the pain of engorgement and the risk of mastitis when feeding or pumping doesn't occur every few hours. Stories like this are common. You may even have experienced something similar yourself. *Share your story on our blog at: http://www.momsrising.org/node/573
All too often women aren't able to breastfeed their babies even though the American Academy of Pediatrics tells us it's one of the most important things we can do for a child's health. Let's send a strong message together that it's time to "walk the talk" for healthy infants and mothers.
*Don't forget to sign the Statement of Support to tell the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) and Congress that we want breastfeeding to be supported for all moms--and to forward this email to friends so they can sign on too. Just click here to sign on now: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/momsrising/signUp.jsp?key=2614&t=petition.dwt
Best -- Anita, Nanette, Kristin, Mary, Joan, Ashley, Katie, and Donna
P.S. THE LOWDOWN ON THE BREASTFEEDING PROMOTION ACT: Representative Carolyn Maloney's Breastfeeding Promotion Act 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. This makes it a lot easier for women who want to give their babies breastmilk and keep their jobs. As you may know, 82% of American women become mothers by the time they are forty-four years old, so this issue is critically important to a large portion of our nation. To read the bill, go to: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.2236:
SOURCES:
1. Boston Globe article on Sophie Currier: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/06/23/board_wont_relent_for_breast_feeding_mother/
2. Data about breastfeeding: http://www.aap.org/publiced/BR_BFBenefits.htm See also http://www.aap.org/breastfeeding/
-Your donations make the work of MomsRising possible. To donate today on our new, secure website go to: https://secure.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/momsrising/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=2156
Women shouldn't be discriminated against simply because they are mothers... but they are! Read about true experiences of American mothers, and learn how shared problems can be solved. Members can download the first chapter of the book today.
sophie currier
this is ridiculous. she is giving all breastfeeding mothers a bad name.
i breast fed four children, worked, went down to the first floor and sat on the floor to nurse a baby during my lunch 1/2 hour. I think it is safe to say that she is a spoiled brat. If you want to do this You need to sacrifice for your child. The child is the most important thing. If you want to be a Marine, the Marines should not be required to allow you to carry your nursing infant in to battle. This is precisely the same thing. Learn to make choices. The world is not your oyster.
Keeping My Eyes on the Prize- time for pumping for every mom!
I get concerned when I read others' concern that Sophie's being "overaccommodated" because it reveals that we're still in this mindset of "back in the day I walked to school five miles uphill in the snow both ways and you should too," instead of welcoming every bit of progress. I'm hoping to keep the the goal in sight instead of getting confused by the details of Sophie's story!
That goal was and still is-- it is *reasonable* for a breastfeeding mother to get time to pump, period.
Hey, so did she pass her
Hey, so did she pass her test after she won the accomodation to breast feed ?
NOOOOOOOOOO!
Hey, Dr. Currier, care to comment ?
Would you like a free pass ? HOw about 3 days to do the test ? Or 4 ?
"getting a break"
I don't understand all the comments that suggest Sophie Currier was "already getting a break" by having her ADHD accommodated. A disability accommodation does not give a disabled person an *advantage*. It evens the playing field!!! That's the point. It gives someone with a documented, legitimate disability a fair opportunity to succeed. As for breastfeeding, this is a similar issue. Why should women have to delay, alter, or quit their professional plans because they disproportionate bear the burden of childbearing and childrearing--because, in fact, they perform this necessary public, social service? They too should be given the opportunity to succeed--and not just for themselves, but for the good they bring to their profession. I don't think Sophie Currier is the whiner in this story--all the people crying about "special treatment" are. What difference does it make to you??? Do you think she is somehow taking away someone else's chance to succeed?????
Absolutely wrong! This exam requires the same standards for all!
The USMLE is an incredibly difficult exam. Some students spend thousands, even into the tens of thousands of dollars on courses and materials to prepare for this exam. Students spend anywhere from months to a year, maybe more studying for this exam. This exam is incredibly important because the integrity of the exam has been meticulously maintained. Allowing some students to have a time advantage, no matter the reason, destroys the integrity of this exam; this one exam which helps ensure the quality of a future practicing physicians medical education, and the quality of an individual students knowledge they gained from that medical education. I don't mean to offend, though people will be offended, but, what this young lady is doing is saying, ANYBODY who a good enough reason, should get extra time to take this exam. I could theoretically say I need extra time on the exam to masturbate, because if I don't, I will get "blue balls". This is the exact same argument this girl used, well not exact, she would get pain from not draining her breasts. This means anybody with Downs Syndrome, Turner Syndrome, anecepahlics who may live to an age where they would be in a position to take this exam (ok, maybe not in this case) could pass it, given enough time of course. When your Father, has a heart attack, do you want your MD to have Downs Syndrome, and is only an MD because everybody gave him the amount of time needed to overcome his disability, enough to pass the exam at least? When your Daughter has broken her leg, do you want her MD, who is practicing only because he/she was granted 3 months of time to pass his licensing exam while every other MD passed it in 8 hours to treat her? I suspect the answer of the overwhelming majoirity is no. It's not a matter of her right to breast feed, and it's not even a matter of her delaying her career. Thousands of students and MD's like myself who will be taking this exam willingly choose to delay the timing of the exam until we know we are ready for it, phsyically and mentally. If I were scheduled to take the exam next week, and I broke my arm today, I would not take the exam next week. When you take the USMLE and fail it, you are permitted to take it again. When you take the USMLE and get a passing, but barely passing score, you CAN NOT take this exam again to improve your score, thus your chances of securing a really good residency position are jeopardized. It is for this reason that the vast majority of people choose to take the exam when they are in their best condition, and not when they are in their worst. I appreciate this young ladies need to breastfeed, but quite frankly, she suffers absolutely no harm by waiting until she has finished breastfeeding. I would like to point out that this exam, and medical school, are not like any other exam. This exam is incredibly difficult, incredibly stressful. Question for you folks. Did she, a future physician, make the right choice in subjecting herself to this stress at 8 months of pregnancy the first time she failed the exam?? Or did she place her own selfish desires before the wellbeing of her unborn child??
The NBME did offer this young lady more than adequate additional time to breastfeed. Of all physicians, the ladies and gentleman who make up the NBME are probably more versed in providing health care than anybody, and absolutely they wouldn't have offered this solution to Mrs. Currier if they thought it was not sufficient.
She's making the rest of us look like brats
As a nursing mom (who got her PhD in Organic Chemistry two years ago), I just wanted to say that EVERYONE who takes the doctoral exams is given a 45 minute break from the tests, not just folks with a disability. Plus, if you finish one section early, you can use the rest of the time as a break.
I don't have any issues with her getting to take her exams over two days instead of one because of her disabilities. But honestly, 45 minutes is plenty of time to pump milk for a baby even if you don't use an electric pump, especially considering that the school provided Sophie with the opportunity to pump in a private room and even to go off campus during the breaks in the tests. Frankly, the school already went out of its way to accomodate Sophie, and Sophie is being a whiny brat, pushing for more special treatment. She's making the rest of us nursing moms look bad and I'm really pissed about it. Given that she's failed the test before, I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted an extra hour to run home (since she's allowed to), and scan through literature hoping to cram in just a little more information between the sections.
Reality
I find this all so interesting, I am a working mother - went back to work within weeks of both my children being born and I nursed them both for over a year. I work in a VERY busy environment and only get to pump once a day in the late afternoon and NEVER am I just pumping. I am either eating my lunch, making phone calls, answering email, etc. If I didn't do all of this it would have been impossible for me to continue my job and nurse. I would love 15 minutes a day to totally relax and do nothing but pump, but the reality is not such. Also, I have 10 sets of pump parts and bottles, so I only wash them once a week on the weekend. I have made my accomidations because I felt it was important. My job does support my role as working mom, but the idea that it all has to be perfect, time to pump, time to relax, time to eat, etc. is just annoying and frankly doesn't make me want to support this type of accomidations.
It's not because she's breastfeeding
It's because she's already allotted extra time for her other 'difficulties'. Where do we draw the line? Is it fair that the man who does not lactate and does not have dyslexia has to take the test in one day, while she gets two and wants MORE time? It's a standardized test...there needs to be standardization!
from msnbc.com: "The board cited the need to be consistent in the amount of time given to doctoral candidates and said other nursing mothers who have taken the exam have found the 45 minutes of permitted break time sufficient. "
and..."She has already received special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act for dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, including being granted permission to take the test over two days instead of one. In the lawsuit, she was seeking an additional 60-minute break on each day."
Exactly how much of a free pass does she want just because she's breastfeeding? I'm a woman, and I understand the difficulties, but please. She was just waving her milky breasts about in hope of another break, most likely because she failed it the first time.
Wow
It certainly seems like Ms. Currier is being overaccomodated and I really dislike that she felt so entitled to more accomodations that she needed to sue. However, I see a certain sense of entitlement in mothers anyway. It is manifested in the way they drive (too fast - alot of minivans have tailgated me and I'm not a slow driver), they are agressive pushing a stroller (bumping into a person's heels or rolling over their toes or running into you), pushing strollers four across a two-way bike/run path on a blind curve - thus putting their kids and others in terrible danger AND then throwing a fit about it. Obviously, this type of aggressiveness does not encompass all mothers of course. Maybe it's just the mothers instinct to get everything they can for their child before everyone else. It certainly comes across that way - it's their world and everyone else just lives in it.
currier
MOMSRISING!
Support working mothers who are RESPONSIBLE!!! Sophie Currier is not being responsible - she is making all of the responsible working mothers out there look ridiculous, whiny and incapable of passing examinations. Stop this silliness. Her issue is not one of breastfeeding. It is one of entitlement and being spoiled. She is accustomed to it and now she feels entitled to more. She isn't. This is not about reasonable accomodations for working mothers who are breastfeeding. It's about gaming a system that is trying to be fair to everyone. She's angry because she failed the test once. She should be studying instead of suing. You can't sue your way past this test, Dr. Currier!
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