Salient features of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017

Thanks to the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India for summarizing the salient features of the 2017 Amendment to the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017. Here is an information sheet that they have released during World Breastfeeding Week, Aug 1-7, 2017.

You may also access the BPNI information sheet on Salient features of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 here or read the text below. The full  Government Order, “Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017″ is available here.

For pocket, planet and a happy period: Nirmala talks about the menstrual cup

One form of untouchability that we must work to eradicate is menstrual untouchability.  Unique to women, this oppression is based on the idea that a woman’s body is defective and dirty, and can pollute people and spaces if not kept in check.  A recent incident in a school in Uttar Pradesh highlights the need to fight the notion that menstruation is a cause for shame or punishment.  The principal of Kasturba Gandhi Residential School in Digri village made 70 girls strip and be searched for menstrual blood.  Following complaints by students and parents, the principal was fired.  Parents and teachers of  girls should help them to manage periods comfortably and to value the vitality in their bodies, including their menstrual blood, which makes it possible for a woman to nourish new life.

It is good that the community in Muzzafarnagar took decisive action against this outrage; yet menstrual untouchability persists in stark and subtle ways, not only in far flung villages but also among the urban educated.   In the march to consign menstrual taboo to the dustbin of history, one important step is to make periods more comfortable.

Maternity Leave: Another reason to say Jai Bhim!

Observing India’s 69th Independence Day, the Association for India’s Development published a website featuring a tribute to Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, who fought against caste oppression and is known as the architect of India’s constitution.   Article 42 of India’s Consitution provides for maternity leave, as follows:

Article 42 of the Constitution of India 1949

Provision for just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief the State shall make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief.

And in fact Ambedkar spoke publicly about this nearly 20 years before at the Bombay Legislative Assembly.  

Happy Father’s Day

With best wishes for father’s day, some inspiration from father of thirteen, Leonhard Euler:

Euler claimed that he made some of his greatest mathematical discoveries while holding a baby in his arms with other children playing round his feet….

Thanks to J J O’Connor and E F Robertson, School of Mathematics and Statistics, Scotland.

Work while baby is awake!

Everyone says, “sleep when baby sleeps.”  But how on earth am I supposed to do that?  My parents and in-laws were with us for the first year but now we are on our own.    My wife is an artist and I am an occupational therapist.   We set our hours so that one of is with him at all times.  My wife at least can sleep while feeding him but I don’t have any chores that I can do lying down.   When our son sleeps is the only time I have to get anything done at home!  If I slept I would wake up to piles of laundry, nothing to eat, stacks of unopened mail, and no time to take a shower, let alone read a book or go to the gym. 

Baba of a 1 year old in Ann Arbor

As this was one piece of advice I followed early and often, let me tell you how I did it.  In order to sleep when baby sleeps, you need to work when the baby is awake.  I have talked about this at La Leche League meetings and many people say that they wish they had heard this advice earlier, so I am going to try to spell it out.

Nothing can stop you!

Dancer, Writer, Yogi and Mama, Mirabelle D’Cruz from Mumbai shares the secrets of her backpack, her sling, and getting back to “plurk” with baby in tow.

They tell you that once you have a decent job and get married, you will be “settled.”  Then they tell you you will only be really settled once you have kids. I was always critical of the settled business, though I can see value in the concern of those who talk about it. Even if you have a child, like my husband and I, when you truly feel ready, have been a party-holic, travel –holic and how can I forget work-a-holic and know you’ll have no regrets because you lived your life fully and don’t feel an ambitious desire for position, lifestyle or keeping up with the Joneses, the roller-coaster will only start after the LO arrives. This is not a complaint or judgment on parenting,  its an observation on learning, growing and most of all on integrating.

I’m sharing a little of my journey, as one of the possibilities to parenting, hoping it may provoke, inspire, help or just provide an interesting read.

Mirabelle leads an energizing session on West African Dance

Going to work … baby’s gotta eat!

How do I get our baby to eat solids? I have resumed going to my office a few months ago and my wife plans to do so in one month. Till now, she has been breastfeeding exclusively. I will then be responsible for some of the feeding and I need a strategy pronto! – Baba of a 5 month-old son in Siliguri

If your wife is breastfeeding, she is already introducing your son to the taste of solids, and by cooking you help to feed both of them. In fact, the foundation for healthy eating is breastfeeding. Not merely because it nourishes baby physically, emotionally and intellectually but because it serves as a safety net while growing children explore the world of solids and explore the world. Regarding how to offer solids, please see: How Children Learn to Eat and Introducing Foods.

In principle, the pace of eating solids need not change for baby when mother goes to the office, provided she knows her rights.

A Journey called Home

Chetana, Amma to almost-four year old Disha in Bangalore, finds there is never a dull moment, right at home, a steady source of entertainment and comfort. 

I think for a long time, before D was born, I was under a misconception that staying all day at home could never ever be simulating, would be boring and it is for lazy people.

But D has shown me otherwise in more ways than one. For one – our home and neighborhood is all that she needs to stay happy, healthy and occupied round the clock! The half-km radius around our house is enough for her and me to find our fulfillment in so many ways and we keep discovering newer ones everyday.

We travel quite a bit for pleasure or work or to visit people. And we love doing that. But coming back to home has its own charm.

Nursing Break: Fair Labor Standards Act

From the U.S. Department of Labor
Fact Sheet #73: Break Time for Nursing Mothers under the FLSA
Wage and Hour Division (WHD) | (Revised August 2013) (PDF)

This fact sheet provides general information on the break time requirement for nursing mothers in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”), which took effect when the PPACA was signed into law on March 23, 2010 (P.L. 111-148). This law amended Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Maternity Benefit Act, 1961

Many women in India are unaware of their rights under the Article 42 of the Indian Constitution and under the Maternity Benefit Act of 1961.

Recognizing the time required for breastfeeding, the Act provides for two nursing breaks for every nursing mother until her child is 15 months old.  This is in addition to the normal lunch break and other breaks that all workers get.  Every woman should defend her right to nursing breaks and see that employers follow the law protecting breastfeeding mothers and children.