August is National Breastfeeding Month, and we are thrilled that this year, the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act and Pregnant Workers Fairness Act are in effect, giving workers the right to break time and private space as well as reasonable workplace accommodations to pump milk on the job. We are proud of the impact these laws have made for millions of workers nationwide, and remain committed to empowering workers with knowledge of their rights around pumping while working. However, lactating workers, especially young workers and those new to the workforce, need continued support in the workplace and beyond in order to manage their lactation needs without sacrificing their economic security.
Laws that help workers manage their lactation needs are critical to helping ensure they can breastfeed or chestfeed on their own terms, especially for young workers, who disproportionately work in low-wage and part-time or seasonal positions where they may face added precarity. As we highlighted in a fact sheet, paid family and medical leave is critical in ensuring new parents have the time and support they need to establish breastfeeding or chestfeeding if they choose to do so. Studies have shown that access to paid leave is associated with better physical and mental health for birth parents, including longer breastfeeding duration. Young parents are less likely to have access to paid family and medical leave through their employers, and also less likely to breast- or chest-feed.
Without a national legal right to paid leave, a shocking 1 in 4 mothers return to work within just two weeks of giving birth, which can interrupt the establishment of breastfeeding or chestfeeding. The decision to breast- or chest-feed is personal and unique to every new parent, and everybody who chooses to do so deserves the support they need in order to attend to their own lactation-related needs.
Young lactating workers need equal footing on the economic playing field. Without protections like paid leave, the U.S. continues to hold young workers back from reaching their full potential. We are immensely proud to see numerous state-level paid family and medical leave programs providing millions of workers across the country with the time they need to welcome a new child, recover from childbirth, and establish breast- or chest-feeding, but we will not stop fighting until every worker is covered by this fundamental right.
