c/o Teresa Hill, MS, RD
Nutrition Coordinator
Division of Obesity Prevention & Control
SC Department of Health & Environmental Control
New moms
get cards on breast-feeding
Info cards include state law allowing
public nursing
BY HOLLY AUER
The Post and Courier SATURDAY,
AUGUST 05, 2006 7:28 AM
Feed your
baby without fear: That's what state lawmakers told South Carolina
mothers when they passed legislation last year that protects a woman's
right to nurse her child anywhere she is allowed to be. Now, each
woman who gives birth in any Palmetto State hospital will receive -
among the customary packet of freebies, coupons and newborn how-to
literature - a laminated wallet card that spells out the law and lists
ways to thank businesses for supporting nursing moms or report those
who don't comply with the law. The S.C. Department of Health and
Environmental Control paid for the printing of 50,000 cards - roughly
one for each baby born in the state annually - and distributed them to
hospitals around the state. It's expected they'll begin handing the
cards out soon. Local breast-feeding activists who worked to pass the
nursing rights bill gathered Friday to kick off the wallet card
initiative at the Mount Pleasant Public Library. Rep. Chip Limehouse,
R-Charleston, who sponsored the legislative effort, presented the
official first card to Catherine Giddens, mother to 8-week-old baby
Laylah. The event follows a year of work spurred by the experience of
Lori Rueger, a Charleston mother who said she was asked to feed her
newborn daughter in a public restroom rather than nurse in a dressing
room at Victoria's Secret in Mount Pleasant. Leaders of the S.C.
Breast-feeding Action Committee hope the wallet cards will empower
parents to stand up for their rights, especially in light of ongoing
research that has found breast-feeding to be an IQ and immunity
booster. Most recently, a European study published this week found
breast-feeding enhances children's ability to cope with stress during
childhood. During Friday's event, some moms noted a double standard
among those who make rude comments about women nursing in public:
Those same people don't seem to take offense at girls or women wearing
bikinis at the beach or strolling through the mall in barely-there
trendy clothes. "You show more wearing that than you do
nursing," said Vicki Waldron, a Mount Pleasant resident who
breast-feeds her 4-month-old daughter, Evelyn. "But yet people
are going to say something, when this is the most natural thing in the
world."
Mothers handed protection for breast-feeding
Posted on Mon, Aug. 07, 2006AP
S.C. hands new mothers protection for breast-feeding
New mothers in South Carolina will now find among their packet of
coupons and how-to information a small laminated card that explains
the state's new law on breast-feeding in public. The Department of
Health and Environmental Control paid for about 50,000 cards and sent
them out to the state's hospitals. The new law, which exempts
breast-feeding mothers from indecent exposure laws, was spurred by the
experience of a woman who said she was asked to feed her newborn
daughter in a public restroom rather than nurse in a dressing room at
Victoria's Secret in Mount Pleasant. Leaders of the South Carolina
Breast-feeding Action Committee hope the wallet cards will help women
who try to explain the law to people who may not know about it. The
card also has information on how to report businesses that don't
comply with the law. -- associated press
Cards explain state's new breast-feeding law
The Associated Press, via Wilmington (NC) Star CHARLESTON,
S.C.
New South Carolina mothers will now find among their packet of
coupons and how-to information a small laminated card that explains
the state's new law on breast-feeding in public. The Department of
Health and Environmental Control paid for about 50,000 cards and sent
them out to the state's hospitals. The new law, which exempts
breast-feeding mothers from indecent exposure laws, was spurred by the
experience of a woman who said she was asked to feed her newborn
daughter in a public restroom rather than nurse in a dressing room at
Victoria's Secret in Mount Pleasant. Leaders of the South Carolina
Breast-feeding Action Committee hope the wallet cards will help women
who try to explain the law to people who may not know about it. The
card also has information on how to report businesses that don't
comply with the law. Rep. Chip Limehouse, R-Charleston, a
sponsor of the measure, presented the official first card to Catherine
Giddens, mother of an 8-week-old.
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