1511cf66_all_To_Action_on_Breastfeeding__Topic
[ID] 1047 [Interest Areas] Concerned Citizen [Comment] Nothing is more frustrating than when a hard working Mom has to make the decision to be separated from her baby due to finanacial constraints. I am a 33 year old non-profit local WIC program director and my employer only allows you to be paid for your maternity leave by utilizing the vacation or sick time you have earned, which I understand is better than some women get. When my son was born in Nov. 2007. After my 8 weeks of paid time off and my husband's new job wasn't creating as much income as we had planned, I felt a huge amount of stress and pressure to return to work before I reached my 12 weeks of FMLA. My son was also diagnosed with low birth weight due to my poor milk supply at this time. The most frustrating part is that there are so many other countries that have provisions for new mothers to stay home with their babies. Why can't our country allow at least 6 months to a year for a Mom to stay home and still return to her job that she worked so hard for. I have a wonderful job as a local WIC program director, but now being pregnant with my second child I am struggling to find a way to balance my committment to exclusively breastfeed my baby and return to work by 12 weeks so that I won't lose the job that I worked 12 years to get. [Topic] 
Paid Maternity Leave
Call To Action on Breastfeeding
Topic