For mom and baby

Breast-feeding is in a revival.

For years, advocates have worked behind the scenes to bring mothers and babies back to a basic starting point.

"People are really getting it -- that this is really what makes sense," said Lin Cook, an advocate on breast-feeding issues and certified lactation consultant. "Once a woman sits down and breast-feeds her child, then she knows this is the right thing. It's a bonding experience. You can't buy it."

But advocates say much work is left to be done, starting with protecting mothers who breast-feed in public from harassment and encouraging women to continue breast-feeding when they return to work after maternity leave.

One ongoing initiative is World Breastfeeding Week, which begins Sunday, with goals of increasing the rate of women who breast-feed and protecting and promoting a woman and child's right to breast-feed.

The theme this year is to encourage maternity wards to follow 10 international standards, which include writing policies on the practice, helping mothers breast-feed within the first half hour of giving birth and providing newborns with no food or drink other than breast milk.

Rise and fall

The breast-feeding community has pushed the standards for the past 20 years. In that time, more than 20,000 maternity wards have instituted the policy in 152 countries, or 28 percent of all maternity wards worldwide. No hospitals in South Carolina have that designation, although many hospitals in the state are practicing portions of the 10 standards and working to earn the designation.

Starla McGorty, a board-certified lactation consultant for Roper St. Francis Healthcare, said about 74 percent of new mothers breast-feed their babies today, up from the previous all-time high in modern history of 62 percent in 1982. The rate backslid to 52 percent in 1990, when society viewed formula as an equal substitute for breast milk and mothers were less supported in their decision to breast-feed, among other factors, McGorty said.

The rate has risen, in part, because new research proves the benefits of breast-feeding, and hospitals and health care providers put more emphasis on educating the public about healthy lifestyles, she said.

Still, the rate in South Carolina is just 61 percent, compared with Utah, where 93 percent of mothers nurse their babies, McGorty said.

McGorty, who has been a nurse since 1994, said any number of factors contribute to South Carolina's comparatively low rate, such as mothers who worry that breast-feeding will be painful or because the bottle-feeding tradition passes down from one generation to the next.

McGorty works in the Roper St. Francis Lactation Center, which was the first hospital in the Lowcountry with a retail element, allowing nursing mothers to receive outpatient consultations and purchase breast-feeding products such as nursing pillows. The center also started a support group for mothers and has its own Facebook page.

McGorty said she can tick off a long list of reasons why mothers should breast-feed, but for her, one reason tops all others.

"I think one of the most important benefits is the relationship between the mom and the baby," she said. Mothers can learn a lot about their babies by watching them while they breast-feed.

Other benefits include the child's decreased risk of diseases and illnesses such as ear infections, obesity and respiratory-tract infections.

Mothers also experience perks, McGorty said. Benefits can include the ability to more easily lose the weight they gained while pregnant and a decreased risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

Removing barriers

Pamela Murphy, a certified lactation consultant who has a doctorate in nursing and serves on the faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina, said the number of women who start out breast-feeding their newborns is high, but over the first few months of a baby's life, that number drops off significantly. The next place for advocates to focus energy is why mothers don't continue to breast-feed over time.

Murphy said one major reason is that the mother has to return to work.

A new law is expected to help nursing mothers continue to breast-feed their babies after they return to work. The federal law, a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, requires businesses with at least 50 workers to provide unpaid break time and a private place, other than a bathroom, for breast-feeding mothers to pump their breast milk for up to a year after their child's birth.

The U.S. Department of Labor is developing the rules of implementing the new law, but breast-feeding advocates already see it as a major victory because it removes one more barrier.

One Charleston-based company that was ahead of the new law is Blackbaud, where Nicole Robinson and her husband, Bruin, work. Robinson said her company's pumping room for nursing mothers is "cozy with comfy chairs, lamps and foot stools so we can relax while we're pumping."

The support from Blackbaud and her bosses made all the difference in her transition back to work after she had her daughter, Eliza, who is now 4 months.

"Breast-feeding is really important to me," Robinson said. "I really wanted to stay committed to it and keep my supply up. I have done tons and tons of my own research and came to the conclusion that it is the absolute best thing for my daughter."

Know your rights

Leslie Myers, a nurse practitioner and chairwoman of the South Carolina Breastfeeding Coalition, said the coalition will work to strengthen the federal law that workplaces provide a place for nursing moms, if the law is found not to provide enough protection for nursing mothers.

The coalition worked to see that the Legislature passed a law in 2006 to stop nursing mothers from facing harassment and discrimination. The state law is intended to protect a woman's right to breast-feed her child anywhere she is allowed to be.

Still, Myers said mothers face harassing comments from people who try to tell them they can't breast-feed in a public place or ask a mother to cover up the baby or her breast. Myers wants women to know their rights and stand up for themselves.

"One of the biggest things people can do is be supportive and recognize that it's best for mom and babies," Myers said.

Reach Yvonne Wenger at 803-926-7855 or ywenger@postandcourier.com.