3 strategies to break down barriers to breastfeeding and lower women ’s risk of breast cancer

Key takeawaysEven though the Affordable Care Act requires coverage of “comprehensive lactation support” families are often unclear about what their insurance offers.Parental leave should be longer and paid for both parents, study participants said.Workplace owners, managers and employees should be better informed about family leave rights.When it comes to encouraging women in California to breastfeed, health care providers, insurance companies and employers need to be doing more, according to recommendations in anew report from theUCLA Center for Health Policy Research.Breastfeeding has been shown in studies tolower the risk of developing breast cancer in mothers and provide health benefits for babies. Yet licensed lactation specialists can be difficult to access, the time off granted for leave from work is too short and workplace accommodations for breastfeeding women are lacking. Black, Asian American, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women often face even greater difficulties, including cultural feeding practices and attitudes toward breastfeeding and lack of racial or ethnic representation among lactation providers. Women in rural settings also have less access to consultants.This combination of factors has proven to be an insurmountable barrier to breastfeeding for some women, said AJ Scheitler, director of development, engagement, and strategic planning at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.“The result is that many women who want to breastfeed do n...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news