Kyle Kellams:Aim — Arkansans for Improving Maternal Health — is updating and rereleasing its Breastfeeding Resource Guide. The guide is designed to help new mothers and families, and also offers updates about new laws in Arkansas regarding breastfeeding rights and insurance coverage.
Ashley Bearden Campbell: Truly, one of the most personal choices that a family and a mother can make for their family. Obviously we know that there are a lot of health benefits to breastfeeding, emotional support. It can long term reduce the risk of SIDS, breast cancer, and other health issues. But it can also come with a lot of challenges.
I think there is this kind of stereotype that breastfeeding is something that is just innate, something we know how to do. Like you said, it's been going on since the beginning of time. But I can tell you from firsthand experience, it is not the most innate thing. It's not something that always comes super naturally. And when you have that stigma that it is something that you should just automatically be able to do, that can cause a lot of mental health issues, a lot of stress, anxiety that you're not doing the right thing, you're not nourishing your baby, et cetera.
And so this guide, our breastfeeding guide, is really a comprehensive but easy-to-understand resource that gives practical tips. If again, if this is a route that a mother chooses to go on, it also gives them resources, and also explains new laws that have been implemented this year. And so the reason we decided to launch it now or relaunch it is to outline the new laws and policies that have been enacted this year and also to acknowledge National Workplace Lactation Week. So that's something that is acknowledged every September, the first week in September. And this year's theme is A World of Support: Creating Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplaces. So we're really excited to relaunch this. We want every mother, every family in Arkansas to have access to these resources, regardless of where they live.
Kellams: You mentioned new laws. One of those, Act 627, which will take effect, I believe, on New Year’s Day, will help new mothers have insurance coverage for breastfeeding and lactation consultation.
Campbell: That's exactly right. I think most women — and not I think, I know — that most women don't know that insurance already typically covers at least a few lactation or breastfeeding consultant services. Under this new law, they have up to five, and that is either in person while they're in the hospital or remote. So, you know, if you're in a really rural area and you're having issues, you can now have access to free lactation consultant services virtually, which is an absolute game-changer.
You can be up at 3 a.m. googling away, but you're going to get so much mixed feedback. And how amazing that you now have access to a certified, educated consultant to give you best tips and practices to make sure that your journey is successful.
This bill was really exciting. It was something that I was really proud to help support and lobby on behalf of other mothers across Arkansas. Representative Ashley Hudson and Senator Jamie Scott championed this. There are 15 total bipartisan women legislators that supported this. And so it was really exciting to see this pass pretty much unanimously in both chambers and see the support, because a lot of the members of our legislature are parents. They've been on this journey. They understand and have seen firsthand how difficult this can be. And it was really encouraging, along with the other maternal health pieces of legislation, just to see this momentum continue.
Kellams: I imagine consultation could be so welcome. I can't imagine a time when you might be more tired or stressed or anxious in your life than when you're a brand-new mom, especially for the first time, and you're trying to breastfeed your child.
Campbell: That's exactly right. So if you have a baby that's full term and you don't have any health complications, yeah, you have your child and then you're kind of sent home. You don't get a manual. There's nothing that says this is exactly how you do all of the things you need to raise a healthy and happy baby.
Even though my journey was a little bit different — my daughter ended up in the NICU because of a premature birth — it gave me truly more time to educate myself. I am a talker. I could talk to a brick wall and that was welcomed in the NICU and in the hospital. And so I took that time to ask as many questions as I possibly could.
I felt really lucky that the hospital where my child was had an amazing lactation consultant on their team. And it was a really supportive journey. It was not an easy journey. I did not know what I was doing at all. It did not come super naturally to me. And I had a couple of hurdles. But because of the support that I received from Karen, the lactation consultant, and truly the nurses and doctors on my daughter's care team, I ended up being able to have a really successful journey. That was truly life changing for me.
I felt really helpless. When your baby’s in the NICU, you can only do so many things. And so being able to provide nourishment, and breastfeed, and even just pumping and giving her milk made me feel like I was a real mom. And so it really was helpful in my mental health journey and also helped me just be more comfortable with it when she was released from the hospital.
Kellams: Do we have enough lactation consultants in Arkansas, especially for rural Arkansans?
Campbell: We actually do have a really great network of lactation consultants. I do think that we need to expand more into our rural areas, especially in South Arkansas, where there just aren't as many clinics and hospitals in general, which is, again, why I'm really excited that this bill also covers telemedicine and virtual appointments.
It's not fair to expect a mom, like you said, who is so exhausted — they barely have time to make their postnatal appointments, postpartum appointments, much less have a specific two-hour drive just to meet with a lactation consultant. So this will really be helpful for moms all across the state, which is the goal of every advocacy group: to make sure that every woman, regardless of where they live, has access to these resources.
Kellams: The infant-at-work policy that Gov. Sanders has promoted and supported would allow mothers to bring, I think, up to 6-month-old children to work. Do you think that can help in breastfeeding?
Campbell: I absolutely do. That was a really interesting and exciting announcement, her new infant-at-work policy. You're right, it allows mothers to bring their infants to work for up to six months. And the goal there was to promote bonding. But also, yes, to support breastfeeding and ease that transition back to work.
Any mother that has breastfed can probably attest to the fact that you need typically some sort of physical contact or a visual of your baby to be able to produce milk. And so if you go back to work too early and you're separated from your baby for, let's say, eight hours — probably a little more given pick-up and drop-off time — that can really affect your supply.
So this is a really amazing policy to not only show that they're supporting breastfeeding and lactation in the workplace, but also acknowledging that moms and babies need that time together. They need that bonding time. And six months is just absolutely incredible. You’d be hard-pressed to find a business that allows you to take maternity leave for six months. So this is a great alternative.
Kellams: This guide is free, right, and available online?
Campbell: That's right. You can go to our website aimforarkansas.org, click on our resources tab, and download this guide for free. I encourage everyone to do this if you are a new mother or if you have a family member or friend who is a new mother. Please share this resource with them.
Again, it's very easy to understand. It’s practical tips. There’s a resource tab that outlines what current work policies are, what your rights are as a mother. And then also, again, mental health resources, lactation consultants in your area, government resources, ways to get a pump, and make sure that you're taking advantage of new laws, your rights, and any resources that are available to you through your insurance plan.
Kellams: Ashley, as always, thank you for your time.
Campbell: I appreciate you so much, Kyle. Great to talk with you.
Ashley Bearden Campbell is executive director of Aim — Arkansans for Improving Maternal Health. You can find the free digital Breastfeeding Resource Guide by going to the resource tab at Aim for Arkansas. We also have a direct link at. Other guides are also available, including the Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Guide and Guide for New Expecting Moms, each also available in Spanish.
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