Comments on: Maternity Leave in the United States

By: Strocel.com | Maternity Leave Laws in US States

Strocel.com | Maternity Leave Laws in US States — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 00:07:55 +0000

[...] Mat Leave Monday! Last week I discussed maternity leave in the United States through the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This week I’m following up by discussing [...]

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:28:42 +0000

I’m in my 8th month of pregnancy and I live in the US. I finally get to start my maternity leave this week (much excitement as I’ve been having some pretty severe contractions and I work at a job where I’m on my feet all day and do a lot of lifting). When applying for leave, I was asked, “Why are you starting leave so soon?” So soon? Really? I’ll get 2 weeks paid leave (as required by my State) and then 12 weeks unpaid. Did a bit of work, but was able to get my leave extended, but unpaid. My husband can take time off, but it will be unpaid. He’s one of the few fathers in this country who would LOVE to be able to spend more time on leave with the baby and me. But we can’t afford it. In fact, we’re going to be in a stressful situation when my leave ends. Because day-care is so costly here and I wont earn enough with my job to cover the cost for that…so I might as well stay home and raise the baby. But it’s almost impossible to live on one income here, as well. So we are in a bind. This isn’t the only reason I’ve been so disgusted with living in “the land of the free.”

By: Feminism and Equality For Breastfeeding Women | Breastfeeding Moms Unite

Feminism and Equality For Breastfeeding Women | Breastfeeding Moms Unite — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:17:23 +0000

[...] Another reason breastfeeding moms don’t receive fair treatment is due to the lack of government support and the feared cost of that acceptance. Breastfeeding women in the United States have poor success in extending breastfeeding past a few weeks or months. In 2003, exclusive breastfeeding rates at the six month mark were only 7.9%. I believe this may be correlated with the fact that The United States is one of only five countries world wide that does not offer any form of paid parental leave, and as such puts the breastfeeding relationship in peril. Sometimes it can take weeks to properly establish a successful breastfeeding relationship, but if a woman is forced to go back to her job after 6 weeks becuase that’s all the sick time she could save up, or even after the 12 unpaid weeks FLMA offers eligible mothers, and pump and then nurse when she gets home, the stress of lost sleep and sometimes decreased milk supply as well as a host of other issues that go hand in hand with breastfeeding a baby without proper support causes many women to give up nursing all together. If the US government stood for healthy families, it would make paid maternity/parental leaves a right for new parents. To read more about maternity leave in the United States go here. [...]

By: A Formula Rep turned my Maternity Leave Injury into a new career as an IBCLC? Really? « Stork Stories… Birth & Breastfeeding

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:16:39 +0000

[...] and had never entertained thoughts of staying home with my children once they were born because the USA didn’t assist in providing any type of viable option for families who rely on two incomes or single moms with [...]

By: The misogyny of denying milk-making moms mental-health medication « Raising My Boychick

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:13:59 +0000

[...] tangible support, the dearth of family-friendly work options, the pitiful state of parental leave (in the USA at least), the antagonism toward breastfeeding in public, the burden of parenting placed solely on the [...]

By: Paternity Leave | Strocel.com

Paternity Leave | Strocel.com — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:03:51 +0000

[...] maternity and parental benefits. So what about other countries? As the dads in the video mentioned, American fathers who qualify are eligible to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave through the Family and Medical [...]

By: pomomama aka ebbandflo

pomomama aka ebbandflo — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:34:56 +0000

from what i’ve experienced re: US attitudes to ‘socialised’ universal care, there seems to be a lot of engrained opinion and, dare i say it, brainwashing.
i still find it unbelievable that the strong don’t look after the weak

By: Emily Jones

Emily Jones — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:46:59 +0000

“Perhaps more effort needs to be spent in examining class conflict when working on improving breastfeeding rates. Paid maternity leave * would be an excellent place to start…”

By: Mocha Dad

Mocha Dad — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:17:17 +0000

After the birth of my third child, one of my European collegues asked me how long I would be taking off for paternity leave. I had to inform him that paternity leave is non-existent in the US. He couldn’t believe it. I informed him that most American men probably wouldn’t take the leave even if it were offered.

By: Allison

Allison — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:06:54 +0000

I guess in some ways maternity leave does seem like a privilege, not a right. But given how vitally important a child’s early months are, doesn’t it only make sense? It really annoys me when people say it’s your choice to have children so you should just suck up whatever inconveniences occur as a result. The fact is, if everyone stops having children you won’t have any damn people to support you in your old age! I didn’t get maternity leave because I was working in a bookstore. We were lucky — my husband had a good job. I can’t believe the United States, a so-called superpower, is so barbarian in this respect.