August is Breastfeeding Awareness Month. Breastfeeding has proven to have health benefits for both mothers and babies in high-income and low-income settings, yet less than 50% of babies worldwide are breastfed according to World Health Organization. Meanwhile, the commercial milk formula industry generates revenues of about $55 billion each year.
The guests on this podcast are Monica Belyea who is a Nutrition Consultant with the CT Department of Public health and Taylor Smith, an Interdisciplinary Doula with strong interests in science, nutrition, herbal remedies and lactation.
Monica's expertise is in Early Childhood health and education systems and infant and young child feeding and nutrition. She focuses on the policies and laws protecting safe and healthy breastfeeding in the workplace and is the Past-Chair of the Connecticut Breastfeeding Coalition and a Steering Committee member of the Middletown Racial Justice Coalition.
In addition to being a Doula, Taylor is also a Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC) and is extremely passionate about helping women through their breastfeeding and pregnancy journey. Taylor serves as the current co-chair of the Connecticut Breastfeeding Coaltion. She is currently a participant in Paving the Way: Diversity in Lactation, which is a mentorship program that aims to increase BIPOC numbers in lactation by guiding Women of Color to obtain their International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) credential and she will be sitting for the exam this fall.
Monica talks about the legal rights of mothers to pump in the workplace and the need to make sure marginalized communities are aware of their rights. Taylor says she is trying to increase awareness in minority communities about the benefits of breastfeeding to increase the number of mothers who breastfeed.
CT paid leave provides up to 12 weeks of income replacement so both parents can bond with their child, and breastfeeding can be a big part of that bonding experience.
August is Breastfeeding Awareness Month. Breastfeeding has proven to have health benefits for both mothers and babies in high-income and low-income settings, yet less than 50% of babies worldwide are breastfed according to World Health Organization. Meanwhile, the commercial milk formula industry generates revenues of about $55 billion each year.
The guests on this podcast are Monica Belyea who is a Nutrition Consultant with the CT Department of Public health and Taylor Smith, an Interdisciplinary Doula with strong interests in science, nutrition, herbal remedies and lactation.
Monica's expertise is in Early Childhood health and education systems and infant and young child feeding and nutrition. She focuses on the policies and laws protecting safe and healthy breastfeeding in the workplace and is the Past-Chair of the Connecticut Breastfeeding Coalition and a Steering Committee member of the Middletown Racial Justice Coalition.
In addition to being a Doula, Taylor is also a Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC) and is extremely passionate about helping women through their breastfeeding and pregnancy journey. Taylor serves as the current co-chair of the Connecticut Breastfeeding Coaltion. She is currently a participant in Paving the Way: Diversity in Lactation, which is a mentorship program that aims to increase BIPOC numbers in lactation by guiding Women of Color to obtain their International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) credential and she will be sitting for the exam this fall.
Monica talks about the legal rights of mothers to pump in the workplace and the need to make sure marginalized communities are aware of their rights. Taylor says she is trying to increase awareness in minority communities about the benefits of breastfeeding to increase the number of mothers who breastfeed.
CT paid leave provides up to 12 weeks of income replacement so both parents can bond with their child, and breastfeeding can be a big part of that bonding experience.
Hello, Connecticut and welcome to the paid leave podcast. The title basically says it all. I'm Nancy Barrow and I will be delving into this new state program and how it can help you and your family. This podcast will give you information you should know about Connecticut paid leave, and maybe just a little bit more. Connecticut paid leave brings peace of mind to your home, family and workplace. Welcome to the paid leave podcast. August is breastfeeding Awareness Month and today we focus a little bit more on the mom's side of things. Breastfeeding has proven to have health benefits for both the moms and the babies in high income and low income settings. Yet less than 50% of babies worldwide are breastfed according to the World Health Organization recommendations. And for decades, the commercial milk formula industry has used marketing strategies, and they generate revenues of about $55 billion each year. On December 29 2022, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023 into law. That law includes the pump for Nursing Mothers act, that's the pump Act, which extends to more nursing employees the rights to receive break time to pump and a private place to pump at work. And the Fair Labor Standards Act also requires employers to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for their nursing child, at least for one year after the child's birth. Connecticut paid leave gives up to 12 weeks of income replacement to parents so they can bond with their new baby. And part of that bonding, of course is breastfeeding. Joining me today are Monica Belia, who is a nutrition consultant with the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Her expertise is in early childhood health and education systems and infant and young child feeding and nutrition. She is the past chair of the Connecticut breastfeeding coalition and a steering committee member of the Middletown Racial Justice Coalition. Also joining is Taylor Smith. Before becoming an interdisciplinary doula her roles all involve taking care of others. She has strong interests in science, nutrition, herbal remedies and lactation. She is a certified lactation counselor, and is extremely passionate about helping women through their breastfeeding and pregnancy journey. She is currently a participant in paving the way which I find so cool diversity and lactation. It's a mentorship program that aims to increase bipoc numbers in lactation by guiding women of color to obtain their international board certified lactation consultant credentials. And she will be sitting for the exam this fall as the founder of the owner of nourish our seeds. Taylor's goals is to provide urban communities with culturally competent, thorough and dignified perinatal care. And Taylor currently serves as the co chair of the Connecticut breastfeeding coalition and strives to improve breastfeeding outcomes for families throughout the state. Thanks. Yeah, it's so nice to have you both here. Thank you so much. Taylor, can you tell me what an interdisciplinary doula is?
Taylor Smith:
Yes. So that speaks more to my training. To be very honest, I went through a 14 month training, and that differs from most doula trainings. Usually, to receive a doula certification, you do about three days of training and then some clinical work that you have to kind of do on your own. I went through again, 14 months, in which we went over a lot of different topics such as grief and loss, teen pregnancy, obviously, pre and postpartum care and how to provide such as a doula while staying within scope. So what an interdisciplinary doula is, it's something that's been coined by the company that trained me is essentially someone who can do multiple things as a doula again, prenatal postpartum grief and loss. I actually have done debt dueling by accident. I took care of both my grandmothers, great grandmothers, sorry, through hospice care. So before I was even an actual doula I was, you know, being a death doula. So again, it just covers a wide range of variety of what a doula can do, essentially, when I had my first son, I was 21 years old, and I was obviously very young. And I wasn't nearly aware of all of the things that can kind of happen when you are black and giving birth. I didn't even fathom to think about all the things that can kind of go wrong as a black woman in that environment. And one of the things that I experienced was my son was extremely jaundice. The pediatric NICU nurses by the time we had gotten there, they didn't explain things very well. I ended up having to do a lot of research on my own, which was helpful obviously, because then I can advocate for myself, but even then I felt more dictated to then collab being a part of his collaborative care and making Ensuring that we're working together to kind of work towards something that would obviously help us help. But also, again, not just be something where someone's telling me what we're going to do. And I didn't know how to navigate that, I'm lucky to have my mom who's an RN, who also happened to work on the labor and delivery floor and that at the time, but you know, she was familiar again with that environment. And she was able to teach me and tell me exactly how to advocate for myself and kind of, say, very black mom style one day told me like, girl that is your baby. That baby, because they were telling me that I could indirectly breastfeed him, my son and that I couldn't really do any skin to skin time with him because his he was so jaundice that having him not be in his little incubator, under his phototherapy lights would literally be fatal. For him, it was starting to affect my mental health, I wasn't again able to bond with my newborn child. And breastfeeding was always something that I knew I wanted to do, because my mom, even though she was a teen mom breastfed me until I was three years old. So I heard stories growing up of all of my breastfeeding antics, which are numerous, and it made it something that was familiar and dear to me. So again, I knew I wanted to do it. And I was being denied that was literally being told that I could not do that. So after learning how to advocate for myself, after having to fight for my right to breastfeed my child to hold my child even come, I had come to find out that, you know, I can't be the only one who's going through a scenario like this, where you just don't even know what to do, where to go, who to speak to how to say it, all of the things. And I knew that I wanted to be someone who could help other specially black women navigate this process.
Nancy Barrow:
Mom, mortality rates in black and brown women are three times as much. And it was really shocking to me to hear the number. And yeah, what did that factor int o something that you really wanted to get into different communities to be a doula or so yeah.
Taylor Smith:
These numbers, and I kind of want to put it in a little bit more perspective, because when you say three times more likely to die three is relatively a small number, that translates to 243% more likely to die than white counterparts. And we indeed have a problem. It's directly linked to systemic racism, and the social determinants of health that racism affects. So we got a problem. We definitely yeah, we got it. Yeah, the thing. I mean, then doulas are actually able to help to reduce the mortality, the mortality rates within especially urban communities, even again, before I started on my journey, as a doula, I knew the power of breast milk. I had seen it with my mom and myself, you know, sounds like I'm bragging, but I'm extremely intelligent, right? That is also something that's linked to breastfeeding. I was breastfed for three whole years. That's a long time. It's a good amount of time. But you know, some most people consider that a really long time. So again, understanding that I knew that lactation was important. It wasn't until I really started on my Doula journey, though, that I really wanted to take it serious and really have a full understanding of the science behind lactation. And that was because as I was learning about, you know, everything that goes on with the body as a doula, I was learning that the health disparities that face my community, such as breast cancer, diabetes, insulin resistance, all the things these are things that actually are reduced risks that are reduced when you breastfeed for a year or more. So I'm like, if we have these health issues on one end of the spectrum, and we can do something as simple as breastfeeding, to help eliminate those things. We need to figure out how we need to help people do this, because at the time breastfeeding initiation rates, meaning like actually starting ever breastfeeding, were extreme. I mean, like egregious ly low in my community. So it took me seeing that wanting to look a little bit deeper and just kind of figuring out why what's going on the way breast milk works. It's not just food, right? We'd like to, you know, think of it in that way, of course, because that's all we feed our babies but it's alive. It changes compositionally. Whether it I mean, based on the time that you feed at nighttime, there's actually more fat in your breast milk, then compared to during the day, it changes based on the sex of your baby. I just recently read a study that's been conducted. And if I'm not mistaken, they said, moms who have boys have higher fat contents and their milk. So it's extremely individualized like if your baby is sick, you're when you latch your baby to your breast, that baby's saliva is going to actually send the signal to your body that says we need antibodies to fight this virus or sickness and your body is going to respond make the antibodies and put it into the milk. So it is again it's not just food is completely alive. It changes per Today, her time of day per everything is complete nutrition and it will vary.
Nancy Barrow:
It's fascinating. I didn't know that it would change by the sex of the baby. That's really, that's fascinating.
Taylor Smith:
That's not necessarily common. No information.
Nancy Barrow:
Thank you for that insight information. Monica, I know that you've been really into nutrition as well. Tell me about that aspect of your job.
Monica Belia:
So the the work that I do is focused on making sure the environment is conducive. So as Taylor's trying to support people who are pregnant and breastfeeding to, to feed their baby, well to think about, like, what is it that I'm consuming? My work is trying to make sure that what they have available to them to consume is healthy and affordable. So the understanding like that education that Taylor's able to provide, if you don't consume it yourself, your body's still going to give it and then you'll be depleted. So as a parent, you're going to have less available in terms of your own health. And so trying to ensure that worksites and childcare providers have also healthy options available, are they participating in the Tom Adult Care Food Program to allow to ensure that high quality foods are available on a regular basis to the kids who are in care? To know that if you feed an infant breast milk, as part of of their participation in your program, you can get reimbursed for that meal? It's not? Yeah, it's. So there's all kinds of ways that as as a society, we've put these things in place. But they haven't been as readily accessible to everyone. So until the pump Act was passed, the Connecticut laws were trying to cover employees who weren't covered by the pump by the Fair Labor, Fair Labor Standards Act. But there were some issues. So if you weren't legally entitled to a break, you wouldn't necessarily get a break to pump milk or feed your baby even though the Connecticut law Congress, all employers,
Nancy Barrow:
it's very interesting. Do employers have to provide a private place for workers who need to pump breast milk? Because I find that it'd be really offensive to have to go into the bathroom and do that there should be a place for it.
Monica Belia:
Yeah, so it's illegal to require anybody to pump or feed their baby in the bathroom. Just like you wouldn't require them to eat their lunch in the bathroom, Breslow food, right? That's a good point. Yeah, so it's the same, if you wouldn't eat there, then you wouldn't have a baby there. So there's anti discrimination laws that protect a person's right to breastfeed in public places. So any place that a person is legally allowed to be they are legally allowed to feed their infant. And there you can't ask them to cover up and you can't ask them to go somewhere else. So folks should know that that's a that's a law that's been in effect for a very long time. In Connecticut, and in the space that's required for pumping or feeding your baby at work. It doesn't have to be a room that's only used for pumping or, or feeding, breastfeeding. But it has to be a space that's private. So you can't force people to use it. But it has to be available. And so some employers don't have a role in that.
Nancy Barrow:
I was gonna say that, like a small business, you know, what, what are they required by? By law? Because some people only have like three employees.
Monica Belia:
And yep, so in Connecticut, if you have one employer, one employee, you're required to provide a space. So yep, everybody's covered. The space doesn't have to be only for breastfeeding. As I said, it can be multi use space, just talk to your your employees about what's comfortable for them. I have seen people who are comfortable pumping in a conference room with just a cover. And I've seen people who in order because of the way their bodies are reacting, they need a private space where they can close the door and lock it. And they need a sound machine so that people aren't hearing them. Yeah, you know, so it really varies by the person interesting what their body can handle. And so we want to be as flexible as possible. What works for one employee may not work for another employee. And just having that conversation ahead of time with your, your team, what's going to work for you
Nancy Barrow:
and does the break time that you use for pumping is that paid break time.
Monica Belia:
So if it's a normal paid break, then it's a normal paid break. If you need time beyond your pay breaks, then it can be unpaid. And most employers we encourage them to have a policy that sort of outlines us your pay breaks if you need unpaid breaks, here's how to handle it. So you might have to make up the time later. You might have to use vacation time or sick time depending on what the employee wants to do. But that can be more unique to the employer and what what they can afford. But with the passage of the pump act, it used to be that in Connecticut, if you were entitled to a brake, than you were entitled to use that brake for pumping. And now all in all, all employers are required to provide brakes, but not all employees are covered. There's some groups of employees that are not covered. But even within so for example, in the airline industry, pilots and flight attendants are not covered, Oh, that's interesting results, who works for the airline is covered. So if you're in TSA, or if you're in working in the airport area, do something else for the airline, then you're covered. So the employer is required to provide the breaks. And so in Connecticut, then you're now entitled to have the break. And I think I'm not an attorney, I don't work for the Department of Labor. So I'm not giving specific advice to employers. But we can help you work through that process. And DOL would be the pay per appeal. Do there's there are staff attorneys at Department of Labor and commission on human rights and opportunities who are
Nancy Barrow:
expert we'd love CHR OHS
Monica Belia:
there. And they have done so much work. I mean, they have been integral partners in lactation accommodation in Connecticut. So huge shout out to Department of Labor and commission on human rights and opportunities really, really great to work with those folks,
Nancy Barrow:
when someone is having real difficulty with kids latching on or just hurts them so much. What are your suggestions? Taylor?
Taylor Smith:
So I guess, I want to make sure I say this, right? Because this is one of those topics where you really have to consider how someone feels regardless of what's happening, right? What is that person experiencing? And I will say, most times, when someone's having an issue with breastfeeding, in terms of like, feeling like they aren't making enough milk, that it's not an actual thing that's going on in their body, it's a perceived thing, but each is equally important. So I think as a doula if I'm having a mom who is experiencing issues with supply, the first thing I'm going to do is take a look at how are they removing their milk, I'm going to validate how they feel and let them know, you know, like, yes, you're struggling. This is why you sought help. And I can indeed help you with these things. And we're going to try everything that we can, the only typically the only thing that won't, I don't want to use absolute there. But most More times than not. People who experience actual versus perceived low milk supply are people who have medical contraindications, meaning they literally have something that is preventing their body from doing the hormonal process that is supposed to do such as breast surgery, or breast cancer or hormonal hormonal disorders. And even with those contraindications, it's not necessarily to say that you cannot successfully breastfeed, so it is very, very case by case. So that's, again, low milk supply. If someone's having issues with lash the good thing about that is, that's nothing typically read other than a change of position or you know, something simple, the understanding how to place your hand, something as simple as a finger literally can change how baby's head is and then the position of the mouth and the position of the tongue, which can cause pain and things of that nature. So I always encourage women, like, don't just think, Oh, my body isn't going to do what it was supposed to do. You trusted your body to help carry out the hormonal process of getting pregnant, of labor and delivery. All those are hormonal processes. If your body didn't tell you then most likely I will tell you from lactation Schultz continue to trust your body. And if you need help, find help, there are people. Again, I'm a part of a whole mentorship program thing. I want to shout out Danielle Freeman, and diversity and paving the way and lactation because she's making it so that there are more people who look like us and therefore it'll be easier to find someone who you feel comfortable to kind of relate to in that way and get help. But regardless of the disparities within again, the bipoc community within lactation, I think black woman are 1% of the lactation community in terms of credentials. So That's craziness. But regardless, seek help because there there are people who can help you through these things. And more often than not, it's a perception thing rather than an actual problem and slight tiny changes can really make a difference and help you reach your breastfeeding goals. And so that you can be successful and your goal doesn't have to be that should breastfeed for a year or three. Whatever your goal is there is someone there who can help you meet it and it's so important. It really changes the health outcomes not only for your baby but we I'll talk enough about how breastfeeding is good for mothers. Again, it lowers the risk for postpartum depression when you're breastfeeding well, and if you're not doing well seek help, because I can help you. But ovarian cancer, breast cancer, diabetes, there's a study that recently came out that shows that memory memory function is improved if you can breastfeed as well, so many things that you can really help within your own body, not let alone your baby, just by breastfeeding, so I encourage women again, seek help if you need it, don't just think that you can't, because that's most likely not true. And if you are one of those people who do have a medical contraindication, you can probably still provide your baby some breast milk. And it's so important, even drops can change outcomes, health outcomes. So don't be afraid to reach out and find a lactation consultant, a counselor, someone who is well versed in understanding how infant feeding, so that way you can make decisions informed decision. That's to say it's interesting,
Nancy Barrow:
Connecticut paid leave gives up to 12 weeks of income replacement. So both parents can bond with their child, they also do services if if someone needs mental health care if they can also get up to 12 weeks of income replacement, which is really important when you're struggling like that, how significant is this program to aid in what you both do for parents and the family. I'll leave it open to both of you, Monica and Taylor,
Monica Belia:
I'll go first. So what we're hoping to see is that families will be able to take advantage of paid leave to get the rest, that they need to have time together to allow for their family extended family to provide support to allow time for Taylor, other doulas lactation providers to be there with them. The the thing that I worry about is is do folks know that they have access to the paid leave.
Nancy Barrow:
That's why we do these podcasts to get the word out to people because it is a new program. So we're trying to get the word out to people to let them know, Hey, this is available. And if money is an issue, and you can't stay home with your child for you can only stay home for two weeks, there is something that can help you.
Monica Belia:
And that was the thing that we were seeing a lot in working with folks in the community. One of the reasons that families might decide not to breastfeed is because they were going back to work so early. So they didn't want to start breastfeeding and then have to switch. Because their employer wasn't providing them with time for pumping, or they didn't feel like they could ask for it, we still see a lot of people giving up on breastfeeding. And that is, so they give up they don't choose. They feel like they have no choice. And so they give up on it. And that level of disappointment and frustration and loss, I think goes unrecognized as part of the whole decision making process. So when you look at hospital data, families are choosing to breastfeed 80, some percent of Connecticut, families choose to start breastfeeding, they want to give some breast milk to their baby. And then you see these time points where they drop off. And it's two weeks, it's a month, those were the time points when people were going back to work. So having employers on board providing clear, useful and supportive information prior to going out on leave to have your baby providing the support to both parents. There. There might be a same sex couple where both parents are trying to breastfeed. So we want to make sure that both parents have access to that. Yeah, no, both parents foundations. Yeah,
Nancy Barrow:
it doesn't matter. What that what the family looks like. Yeah. So if both parents, both parents have access to it, how important do you think it is? for parents to know this and to take time?
Monica Belia:
So I'll let Taylor speak to her experience, but I think it is critical, it's essential. We don't allow ourselves to rest. That's a common across women. But I think women of color, especially as Taylor said, like, there's the image of the strong black woman and we don't offer that opportunity for rest and recovery. We all need to rest and recover when we have a baby I mean, that's eat both parents need to rest and recover when you have a baby in the house. It's exhausting work. And we don't categorize caring, the whole caring and you know, things that people do to care for their family who don't recognize that as work. So I'll let you jump in Taylor I'm sure.
Taylor Smith:
I agree, wholeheartedly agree with everything Monica just said it is imperative to ensure that people aren't forced back into the workforce before? They, I mean, even 12 weeks, let's be honest, like, you know, that's still for a lot of people too soon. But it is much better than two weeks.
Nancy Barrow:
What is the Connecticut breastfeeding coalition? I really want to know a little bit about that. And and what do you do as a co chair? Because you've both been co chair so you can probably both answer this question.
Taylor Smith:
Um, so I will say as of June, I have stepped into the role of co chair alongside my other co chair Aaron, we stepped into this role. And we've been kind of meeting just to, I'll say rebrand, essentially, we want to give the CDC the Connecticut breastfeeding Coalition, a fresh face. And what we are what we strive to be, I will say is a group of people who are action driven, and want to improve outcomes throughout the breastfeeding outcome sorry, throughout the state. We want to obviously protect, promote and support breastfeeding recognition programs, free educational opportunities to help maintain certifications for people, obviously, working alongside zip milk. And we are still in the process of supporting the paving the way initiative and mentorship program to ensure that again, black and brown bodies are have access and guidance towards obtaining their lactation credentials.
Monica Belia:
I mean, it's hard to, it's hard to capture everything, I think that the coalition does, especially, you know, a couple of months into being co chair, but you did a great job. And I'll just say if folks are interested in participating in any of our work, the website has a lot of information. We have Facebook and an Instagram. So folks can just check us out
Taylor Smith:
with the support of the CBC, there have been several programs, including paving the way that have come out to support black women in the community. And when you support the community, even if it's not directly like helping someone latch a baby, you are uplifting that community. And as someone who has been impacted by that, when you pour in, you give something to pour out if that makes sense. So alongside that, um, with having myself as a black woman serving as a chair, Danielle Freeman was actually the previous co chair as well. That alone, when you have people who look like you serving as the in the leadership roles, you just have, the leadership is going to have a better understanding of the needs of the community. So just by having me here, as the co chair alone is going to help the community because I know what to suggest for things that are impacted my communities, I know the issues and the things that my community faces and kind of have an understanding of how to tackle those things. It's just I need some support. I need some, you know, ways to access monies and things of that nature. And that's, again, the goal of the coalition. We want to be able to just pull from all resources, whether it be people again, whether it be monies, grants, whatever it is to be able to tackle the things that we know. And again, having people of color bipoc women, especially in leadership roles is going to help enhance marginalized communities because we know what we go through.
Monica Belia:
Well, I'm in awe of everything she's done. And our state is really lucky to have her both as the co chair of the coalition but also as this provider in the community providing doula support providing lactation support. It's Yeah, it's amazing. And I think we miss out when we are not supporting folks in the community in this way.
Nancy Barrow:
I want to thank my incredible guests, Monica baleia and Taylor Smith for joining me on the podcast.
Unknown:
Thank you so much for having us.
Monica Belia:
Yeah, thanks, Nancy. This is great.
Nancy Barrow:
Yeah, well, you guys were great. And thank you for all the information and for more information or to apply for benefits go to CTP leaf.org. This has been another edition of the paid leaf podcast. Please like and subscribe so you'll be notified about new podcasts that become available. Connecticut paid leave is a public act with a personal purpose. I'm Nancy Barrow and thanks for listening
