Why Isn't a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Supporting Wisconsin's Breastfeeding Mothers?
by Julie Olson Simani MS,RN,CBE
Throughout the State of Wisconsin, breastfeeding women are being harassed while making the very best nutritional choice their children. AB 104 and companion bill SB 30 were introduced to protect a woman's right to breastfeed in any public or private location where she is otherwise authorized to be. On March 20, 2007 the Assembly Committee on Health and Healthcare Reform, chaired by Representative and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Leah Vukmir, listened to nearly 20 people testify and nearly 100 others register in favor of this bill. No one spoke or registered in opposition. Several mothers provided painful testimony regarding their own breastfeeding harassment story despite having to wait hours to testify with babies and toddlers in tow.
Presuming that one could count on a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner to support the nursing mothers and children of our state, I assumed as did others, that this bill would pass through the committee. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Despite the overwhelming support from nursing moms and families, physicians, nurses, American College of Nurse Midwives, Hunger Taskforce, Wisconsin Association of Local Health Departments and Boards, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, Wisconsin Medical Society, Wisconsin Dietetic Association, Wisconsin Public Health Association, and the Wisconsin Nurses Association; Rep. Vukmir, a pediatric nurse practitioner, has refused to bring AB 104 forward to allow the committee to vote on it.
The majority of nurses understand that breastfeeding is the best nutritional choice for children. The World Health Organization (WHO), Unicef, and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) (just to name a few) encourage women to breastfeed for at least the first year of life. Any nurse who has worked with mothers and babies knows that embarrassment, and fear of breastfeeding in public is a major barrier for women to continue this healthy practice. AB 104 / SB 30 is good public health policy. It protects a women's right to feed her child when ever necessary. So why is a pediatric nurse practitioner not supporting breastfeeding mothers and children by bringing this forward for a vote?
If you are a nurse in Rep. Leah Vukmir's 14th assembly district, I encourage you to call and find out why this nurse is not looking out for the best interests of our most vulnerable citizens, the children of our state.
Julie Olson Simani MS,RN,CBE job-shares the associate director position at the Madison Birth Center. She is a public health nurse with a master's degree in community health nursing administration.
