Georgia, USA: A Bellwether in Lactation Care

Speaking the Same Language: A Call for Standardized Lactation Terminology in the United States

“…While multiple personnel “may be equipped to provide breastfeeding education [and support], they cannot all safely provide clinical lactation care” (Aldridge et al, 2021, p. 540). Healthcare ethics require the avoidance of misrepresentation of credentials, professional education, training, and experience, and require a clear portrayal to the public of these attributes (Brooks, 2013).…”

The Next Place in Law and Policy

“…This year is the 41st anniversary of the WHO (1981) International Code for the Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes (IC) and we see much progress and much work still to do. Lactation activists are working on policies as disparate as: establishing milk banking in Muslim countries in light of the milk kinship tenet (Ong, 2021); overcoming racial disparities in breastfeeding in the USA (Bartick et al, 2017;Segura-Pérez et al, 2021); protecting incarcerated parental rights to breastfeed in Canada (Paynter, 2018); implementing the WHO IC (addressing the dangers of human milk substitutes; WHO, 2020) and the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (Baby-Friendly USA, 2018; Hudson, 2019); advocating for breastfeeding families in custody issues in Australia (Australian Association for Infant Mental Health, 2015); advocating for acceptance of breastfeeding in public in the United Kingdom (Morris et al, 2016); advocating for safe clinical care through licensure laws in the USA (Aldridge, 2021) and in other countries, for example, Indonesia (Pramono & Mariska, 2017); enhancing breastfeeding education curricula for healthcare professionals in the USA (American Association of Family Physicians [AAFP], 2019; Meek et al, 2019;Rodriguez & Shattuck, 2017); and advocating for workplace breastfeeding laws worldwide (IBFAN, 2020;Taylor et al, 2020).…”

“…What is possible if we act with tenacity to build, layer by layer, the structures that all of our breastfeeding families need? After achieving licensure for the clinical lactation care professional-the IBCLC-in the state of Georgia, USA (Aldridge et al, 2021), our team of breastfeeding advocates worked to pass the most comprehensive workplace pumping law in the USA, which offers paid break time for employees to express breastmilk or to breastfeed (Employer Obligation to Provide Time for Women to Express Breast Milk for Infant Child, 2020; Paid Break Time and Private Location for Expression of Breast Milk, 2020). Notably, the Georgia law eclipses the protections in the USA's federal PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act (2020).…”