PennLive.com: NewsFlash - 4 women arrested in breast-feeding protest outside h
4 women arrested in breast-feeding protest outside hospital8/6/2005, 11:29 a.m. ET The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Four women were arrested while protesting a hospital's policies on breast-feeding, which the demonstrators said undermines efforts of mothers who want to nurse their babies.
About 15 protesters, some holding signs and others nursing infants, protested Friday outside Harrisburg Hospital. After being told they were trespassing on private property, police arrested four who did not leave.
"I hope we drew attention that something is up ... I can tell you that we are not stopping today," said protest organizer Salem Hamilton, of New Cumberland, who was arrested along with her husband, William Hamilton.
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Maureen Trovato, 46, of Lower Paxton Township, said nurses at the hospital take newborns from their mothers for four hoursshortly after birth and that the separation is unnecessary.
Trovato, who was left holding the crying toddler of another protester who had been arrested, also said that the protesters also object to baby formula samples the hospital gives to new mothers — including those who want to breast-feed.
"Why can't (formula companies) wait until we get out of the hospital to market to us," she told The Patriot-News of Harrisburg.
The protesters were charged with trespassing and released, officials said.
Harrisburg Hospital said in a statement that there is not a mandatory separation of mother and baby. Newborns are taken to the nursery for a medical assessment and a bath one hour after birth and returned to the mother within three hours, the hospital said.
New mothers leave the hospital with a diaper bag, which is provided by a formula manufacturer and contains formula, the hospital said. Women who breast-feed get a different bag but it also contains formula, the hospital said.
Ugh, I love how the women who breastfeed get formula in their diaper bags. I wonder how much $ the formula companies are paying the hospital to do that @@
1 comment:
yup they did that stupid formula thing too.....even after 4 days of saying no thanks
is it bad that i watched the hospital video and could clearly see in the video a bottle of formula in his bassinett? even though I was BF? they just said he was cluster feeding while i was there...and lied about giving him the formula.
i hate hospitals.
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