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*** Last Updated November 11, 2008 *** Please see the notes for each branch of the U.S. military. If you have notice of updates to military breastfeeding regulations and policies, please alert me with a comment and I will be happy to keep this information up to date!
A military new mother generally receives six weeks of maternity leave starting the day she leaves the hospital. The leave can be extended upon written request along with a physician’s recommendation.
Air Force: The Air Force offers four-month deployment deferrals after the birth of a child. On May 23, 2007, Air Force Instruction 44-102 (PDF document) was modified to state:
4.15. Breastfeeding and Breast Pumping
4.15.1. The importance of breastfeeding during the first year of life to infant nutrition and health and to family emotional support is recognized by numerous private and governmental authorities. The
AFMS recommends that supervisors of AF members who are breastfeeding work with the member to attempt to arrange their work schedules to allow 15-30 minutes every 3-4 hours to pump breastmilk in
a room or an area that provides adequate privacy and cleanliness, if available. Restrooms should not be considered an appropriate location for pumping. The AF member must supply the equipment
needed to pump and store the breast milk.4.15.2. AF members who are breastfeeding or pumping remain eligible for field training, mobility exercises, and deployment. The Air Force Medical Service encourages commanders’ modifications of
these activities and/or work conditions for airmen who are breastfeeding, when possible. Nonetheless, duty requirements may not always be compatible with exclusive breastfeeding. In these cases, the AF
member must decide in consultation with her medical provider whether to attempt to continue breastfeeding and/or pumping breastmilk. AF 422 is not the mechanism for documentation that an AF member
is breastfeeding.4.15.3. The obstetrician, pediatrician or PCM shall annotate on an AF Form 422 a recommendation for deployment for those AF members who choose to exclusively breastfeed, i.e. the infant does not
take formula at all.4.15.4. Breastfeeding/breast pumping AF members may participate in field training and mobility exercises. Decisions to continue to breast pump must be made by the patient, in collaboration with
obstetrician or PCM, supervisors, training instructors and the MDG/CC in regard to having a place to safely express and store breast milk.
In a study of nine women on active duty in the Air Force, several of the women talked about how breastfeeding helped them bond with their babies.
The fact that you’re in the military, hurrah, hurrah, let’s go to war, let’s do this, do that, you’re not a woman, you’re unisex, and once you’ve had the baby, you’re no longer a woman, but back to being unisex. I think the nursing keeps you thinking-I’m a mother, I’m a woman, and I’m taking care of this child. That in itself keeps you sane, you don’t lose your identity.
Army: The deferment from mobility for Army mothers following the birth of a child has been extended to six months as of August 1, 2008. The extension also applies to one parent in dual-military couple who adopt a child. The policy applies to active duty, Guard, and Reserve members. Stars and Stripes reports that for Army mothers stationed in Landstuhl, Germany:
Landstuhl commander Col. Brian Lein signed a policy this summer that encourages a deployment deferment of 12 months for active-duty soldier mothers who are assigned to Landstuhl and its affiliated Army health clinics and breast-feed.
Marine Corps: The Marine Corps allows for 6-month deferments.
Navy: Navy policy provides for 12-month non-deployment period and lactation support in the work environment.
Additional Notes
Of course, policies may be very different from practices. La Leche League offers the following advice for mothers in the military:
While many military units are progressive and include a place to pump and even provide breast pumps, some have never been faced with the challenge of accommodating a breastfeeding service member. It may seem embarrassing and overwhelming for the new mother and her supervisors. Before her baby is born, it is important for a military mother to tell her supervisors that she intends to breastfeed. Sharing this information will prevent commanders from being caught off guard, scrambling to fit pumping into the often hectic military workday.
Breastfeed for Health notes:
Check with your local military hospital or clinic for classes on breastfeeding and for breastfeeding support through lactation consultants, nurses, physicians, and other providers. If you are not collocated with a military health facility and receive all health services through Tricare, check with your servicing Tricare office for the latest eligibility rules concerning breastfeeding support.
For a comprehensive overview of breastfeeding in the military, see Part I (Information and Resources Provided to Service Women) and Part II (Resource and Policy Considerations) of “Breastfeeding in the Military.” Military Medicine. Oct. 2003.
Sources:
~ Army Extends Deployment Deferments for Mothers of Newborns About.com US Military blog.
~ “New policy gives some nursing mothers in the Army a 12 month deployment deferral.” Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog.
~ “New Landstuhl policy encourages deferred deployment of 12 months for nursing mothers.” Stars and Stripes.
~ Rebecca M. Welton, Capt, USAF.
~ Part I (Information and Resources Provided to Service Women) and Part II (Resource and Policy Considerations) of “Breastfeeding in the Military.” Military Medicine. Oct. 2003
Leave a Comment
Any military moms out there? Let us know your experience. Thank you for your service to your country! Again, please let me know if you are aware of any changes to military regulations or policies on breastfeeding and I will update this post.
The Air Force has updated their deployment deferment to 6 months instead of 4 months as of recently. I had a baby in December 2009 and they tried to deploy me at the 4 month point. My husband works in AFPC and was talking to a coworker who knew that a new policy was being routed at that time and I got to fall under the new policy by a hair, so no deployment. I’m still bf’ing 10 months later.
Do you know if the 6 deployment deferment policy applies to all TDY’s?
I don’t know if it applies to TDYs at all. The new one might be out by now though. Have you checked recently?
To Heather,
Erica is indeed amazing. And it would be great to hear her speak. I am an active duty in the Air Force, I know first hand the the issue facing females in the military. As a military spouse, please keep in mind, that some men find it very irritating that a female soldier can get special treatment for having a baby and then breastfeeding. Deciding to have a child is a very PERSONAL decision and I would highly recommend not believing or spreading rumors that female soldiers become pregnant just to avoid deployments (unless of course those soldiers actual stated that themselves)…those rumors and statements help to create stigma that we don’t take our jobs as soldiers seriously…and that stigma contributes to why we are only allowed 4-6 months of deferments for deployments and that breast feeding isn’t looked at as important. All branches of the military need to understand that soldier and family care or lack of it greatly affects how well the mission is executed. I can honestly tell you that unless you are female in the military facing a deployment or TDY that is going to take you away from your infant who is at the time dependant on breastfeeding you have no idea of the challenges of taking your job as a mother and soldier equally seriously. Your post was extremely offensive.
I am a military wife, and I was just wondering if any one thought it would be helpful to have a breast feeding support group, such as Le Leche League, available on base, or at your hospital? Just looking for some feed back…I was interested in joining and started a group on base.
I am active duty army, and today is my first day back from leave. for the past month i have put in for leave and everytime i have been denied. i have been trying to find a regulation on breastfeeding. i went to the IG recently and they said that my commander doesn’t have to approve my leave, even though i am requesting it b/c my 2 yr old and newborn still need me at home and is having difficulties adjusting to not only having a new baby in the home, but having a new home entirely to live in. we are still unpacking and the IG said that there is a regulation that says that if the soldier’s home is close enough, she may go home to feed the baby. i have tried and tried and tried to feed my newborn son a bottle and he fights it so much that he has only eaten about 2 ounces of milk all day. i am very concerned about his well being if he keeps fighting the bottle feedings.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) both recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and then supplemented breastfeeding for up to one year (AAP) or two years or more (WHO). Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life “provides continuing protection against diarrhea and respiratory tract infection” that are more common in babies fed formula.
So the military policy only allows breastfeed 6 weeks to 4 months, did the government really recognize anything at all? In the military you are always forced to put career first, family second. After 6 weeks that baby goes straight to the house of drool factory day care, every military mother I have worked with are always taking days off to take care of their sick vomiting babies.
Breastfeeding gives a long list of many longer health term effects and benefits which in turn lowering the cost of health care, there’s a favorable concept the military would typically love to grasp onto, key words let’s see them again, “lowering cost of health care!” That policy should agree more with the recommendation WHO and AAP put out.
I am currently in the Army and my unit does not support me breastfeeding. They are trying to send me to the field and will not work with me about pumping while we are in the field. I have also had problems with my child taking a bottle and I got told by an Army doctor that there is no point in breastfeeding my child. My unit gave me problems with doing staff duty because they said that I have to force my child to take a bottle. I have recently been able to get him to take a sippy cup instead but I am still having problems trying to get my chain of command to understand the support that I need but they continue to harrass me.
I am in the Army, and although I was still under the 4-month deferred deployment, I found my unit to be extremely supportive of breastfeeding. While on several TDY trips ranging in length from 3 days to 6 weeks, I was able to keep pumping and providing breast milk for a full year. It involved researching stores that sell dry ice–WalMart is particularly good for this during hunting season!–carrying packing supplies around, and starting a FedEx shipping account. Hotels where I stayed were quite accommodating in allowing me to freeze my bags of milk the night prior to shipping (I sent a shipment every 6 days, since you can’t refrigerate milk for longer than that). Yes, it’s difficult, but there are definitely ways to make it work. Comment back if you want more information on the logistics of shipping your breast milk home.
Thank you so much for your post! It gives me hope and ideas I didn’t think of! I am currently pregnant and in the Air Force. I have to travel quite a bit and work with pretty much only men. I am determined to breast feed and after reading your post I think I can do it!!!
Thank you!
1043 days ago
[...] an additional pain of separation? That’s the issue raised by a military mother on the article U.S. Military Rules for Breastfeeding Mothers. Jami wrote: Why is it that everyone but the Air Force is at LEAST 6 months deferment – The above [...]
Why is it that everyone but the Air Force is at LEAST 6 months deferrment – The above article and all the profiles I have seen state that the deferrment for deployment is 4 months – but we arent even eligible to PT for 6 months… umm… am I missing something? I have one daughter and am pregnant with my second…I did not breast feed with my daughter because of the simple fact of deployments… My now ARMY doctor is pressuring me to breast feed with my second one… but I argue the fact WHY? So I can up and deploy in 4 months and leave my baby stranded and alone wondering where his/her real food is? It would be heartbreaking to watch my baby be torn from my breast a short 4 months later… The Military is NOT family oriented… if they wont allow us women to adequately take care of our children, then I do not believe they should have allowed us to sign the contract in the first place. Not to mention a large percentage of the Miltary are Men – who like you other bloggers have stated… do not understand OR want to comprehend the aspects of breastfeeding. I would love to raise awarness on this issue – but where would you even start? The policy needs to be changed… period.
Thanks for listening :)
I am in a similar boat. I am single mom in the Navy reserves and had my son in Dec. I just received my orders for individual Augmentee in Iraq. My son will only be 7 months old when I leave. I have heard of the 12 month rule in the Navy for breast feeding mothers but I cant find it on ANY navy document to prove it.
If someone knows where I can find this instruction I would be very grateful, but I’m running out of time.
The military isn’t a place for pregnant or new moms. I just had my baby three months ago. While I was pregnant I worked long days, was on all kinds of working parties, and worked shift work that required me to miss meals. Apparently this wasn’t an issue to anyone except myself. Once I had the baby I was required to go right back to work and even though they have guidelines set up for breastfeeding moms, I was given a bathroom stall to pump in. You’re supposed to have a place to pump and a place to store your milk. My section is trying to send me out in the field for ten days and said, “Oh, you can just pick it up again after you get back.” Now because some MAN deemed that we only need a six month deployment deferment I can’t even breastfeed my baby for the first year as the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends. The military says that it’s family oriented, but it’s not. When our children need us the most, we’re required to leave them.
Hello!! Im active duty air force. I have a baby due in April, and my shop is already trying to send me TDY 5 months after I have my baby. They are so unsupportive of breastfeeding, and it seems that they have no concern for me or my baby at all. I really want to breastfeed for a year…but they’re definently doing all they can to prevent that from happening it seems. It’s like they think I’m breastfeeding just so I won’t have to deploy or go anywhere for temporary duty. It’s ridiculous. I wish I could just get out…but someones got to pay the bills, right? I’m going to try to get a 422 (profile) so i can breastfeed without having to worry about these jerks trying to send me off, even though there’s plenty of other people in my unit that would love to deploy. Right now is just NOT a good time, especially when it interferes with my babies well being and nourishment.
1595 days ago
[...] U.S. Military Rules for Breastfeeding Mothers [...]
1611 days ago
[...] U.S. Military Rules for Breastfeeding Mothers [...]