Childrearing
Breastfeeding Police Officer Put On Unpaid Leave
As any breastfeeding mom knows, you really need to keep any pressure away from your gazoombas to keep them healthy. Even something as simple as wearing an underwire bra can lead to clogged ducts and mastitis. Breast health is difficult to negotiate under non-trying circumstances but I have to say — and I’m a skeptic when it comes to most lacktivisting — this back-to-the-streets requirement seems like an unreasonable policy to demand of a police officer.
The women in my neighborhood are organizing a nurse-in this weekend to support nursing police officers. Here’s the Facebook page with more information.
Ms. Brown, for her part, is taking the time off unpaid as she’s committed to nursing her child for a full year. She and her husband made the decision to forgo her income for the year.
Police union chief Kris Baumann said that forcing breastfeeding police officers into financial ruin is not how you build morale and combat attrition and “Instead it is a message to all current and potential D.C. police officers that this not an agency and government that cares about its officers or their families.”