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Hurrah for the US Navy!

1132 Views 12 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  Shelsi, 
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I think it is so great that the Navy understands how important breastfeeding is for babies and moms. Too bad the Marines don't agree, but I'm thrilled for women in the Navy.

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ARLINGTON, Va. - The Navy has tripled the time that sailors can defer deployments after giving birth, while the Marine Corps has cut the deferment period in half for Marines who have babies as of mid-June.

Sailors can now defer deployments for up to 12 months after giving birth. The old policy gave sailors a four-month deferment period, Lt. Stephanie ****** said.

****** is head of women's policy for the Chief of Naval Personnel's Diversity Directorate.

She said the change comes after a two-year effort to revise the Navy's pregnancy and parenthood policy that included a medical review that looked into issues such as postpartum depression, family readiness and the emotional attachment between mothers and infants.

"Current medical evidence said that for healthy mothers and infants, that a year's deferment is the best policy," ****** said.

Research has shown it is important for new mothers to breast-feed their babies for the first year, and that giving families a year off allows them to establish a long-term child-care plan, she said.

"We just felt that this really is the best policy, the right thing to do for healthy Navy families," ****** said.

In other changes, the Navy is also giving mothers shaken baby syndrome prevention training and postpartum depression screening. The new policy requires commanders to provide mothers a clean place to breast-feed their babies, she said.

Navy mothers and fathers now have 21 days administrative leave to adopt children, she said.

For more on the new Navy policy, go to Navy Administrative Message 157/07 available at www.npc.navy.mil

None of those changes apply to Marines, who now have six months to defer deployments after giving birth instead of 12 months, a Marine Corps spokeswoman said.

"There are responsibilities that come with parenthood, and for those in uniform, these responsibilities require increased consideration and planning due to military commitments," the spokeswoman said in a Thursday e-mail to Stars and Stripes.

The change came after an extensive review of the old Corps policy on pregnancy and parenthood, the spokeswoman said.

"During the review and staffing process it was determined six-month deferment provided the best balance between ensuring the health of the mother and child and the needs and requirements of the Marine Corps," the spokeswoman said.

Commanders can extend the new six-month deferment period for Marines if it is determined to be in the best interest of the mother or child, according to the policy, which was announced in a June 14 Marine Corps Administrative Message.

Marines who already gave birth when the old 12-month policy was in effect are exempt from the change, the policy says.

In another change, pregnant Marines cannot be ordered to family-restricted tours, the policy says.

The new policy also exempts pregnant Marines from routine physical training and the Physical Fitness Test up to six months after giving birth, but they are required to take an exercise program approved by their health-care provider.

Marines who suffer a miscarriage or give birth to a stillborn baby should inform their command and work with their obstetricians to determine when they should resume physical training and taking the Physical Fitness Test, the policy says.

For more information on the new Corps policy, go to MARADMIN 358/07 available at www.usmc.mil.
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G
Well, I'm glad my sister is out of the Corps now, so if she decides to have a baby she won't have to work with those idiotic rules.

Go Navy!
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H
Awesome!
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C
I hope the Air Force follows suit! I'm 4 months pp and have been away from my baby for one month with another month to go. I am having to pump like crazy and ship milk home..
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I think that's great!

I wouldn't be too hard on the MC though. They are dealing with longer and more frequent deployments than the Navy right now, due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Whether you agree with the wars or not, the MC must deal with the troop shortage.
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Quote:

Originally Posted by christifav View Post
I hope the Air Force follows suit! I'm 4 months pp and have been away from my baby for one month with another month to go. I am having to pump like crazy and ship milk home..
Are you deployed or TDY? I ask because the AF DID follow suit but TDY's don't count I don't think. Actually it was a new AFI from about a year ago specifically for bfing moms...

Let me see if I can go dig it up.
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Ok here's what I found. It's not as specific as I remembered it being. But here's the entire bfing AFI:

4.15. Breastfeeding and Breast Pumping
4.15.1. AF members shall be authorized 15-30 minutes every 3-4 hours to breast-pump. This should
be allowed for approximately 12 months after delivery.
4.15.2. The obstetrician or PCM shall annotate on an AF Form 422 that the member wishes to breast
pump and makes a request for a room or office that provides adequate privacy for breast pumping be
designated to allow AF members to pump. The AF member must supply the equipment needed to
breast pump and store the breast milk.
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.
That's all from AFI 44-102
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Bless you, bless you, thank you, thank you! I will print out that reg as soon as I get back to work.

I am TDY right now and it is killing me. I basically was told that if I "don't want to go, that's fine" but I could tell that if I didn't attend training, I would be less effective at my job and it would hurt my chances at promotion. So was I forced to go? No, but in an underhanded way I feel I did not have a choice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsi View Post
Ok here's what I found. It's not as specific as I remembered it being. But here's the entire bfing AFI:

4.15. Breastfeeding and Breast Pumping
4.15.1. AF members shall be authorized 15-30 minutes every 3-4 hours to breast-pump. This should
be allowed for approximately 12 months after delivery.
4.15.2. The obstetrician or PCM shall annotate on an AF Form 422 that the member wishes to breast
pump and makes a request for a room or office that provides adequate privacy for breast pumping be
designated to allow AF members to pump. The AF member must supply the equipment needed to
breast pump and store the breast milk.
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.
That's all from AFI 44-102
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Quote:

Originally Posted by momma2emerson View Post
I think that's great!

I wouldn't be too hard on the MC though. They are dealing with longer and more frequent deployments than the Navy right now, due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Whether you agree with the wars or not, the MC must deal with the troop shortage.
Very true. The USMC has a different mission then the USN.........

Still proud I was Navy though. Hooray for my friends who are still in!
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jimblejamble
Wooh! Now I'm REALLY proud to work for the Navy!
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leila1213
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Originally Posted by christifav View Post
I basically was told that if I "don't want to go, that's fine" but I could tell that if I didn't attend training, I would be less effective at my job and it would hurt my chances at promotion. So was I forced to go? No, but in an underhanded way I feel I did not have a choice.
I believe that's called descrimination.
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Quote:

Originally Posted by leila1213 View Post
I believe that's called descrimination.
That's called being active duty. There are a lot of similar situations were an active duty member is told they don't have to do something, but it is know or inferred that if they don't do it, it will effect them negatively later. I don't know of any nursing mothers but I do know of a lot of my friend's husbands who were 'forced' to volunteer for certain TDYs or special assignments, they will get written up for not volunteering. It's stupid but it's sorta how the system works. I don't think it's any sort of secret either. They tell you to do something, if you don't do it, you get in trouble. :/

Also, there are certain training courses for different ranks. I know my husband went to his training before he was even able to test for his next rank, just in case he made rank.
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Originally Posted by hunnybumm View Post
That's called being active duty. There are a lot of similar situations were an active duty member is told they don't have to do something, but it is know or inferred that if they don't do it, it will effect them negatively later. I don't know of any nursing mothers but I do know of a lot of my friend's husbands who were 'forced' to volunteer for certain TDYs or special assignments, they will get written up for not volunteering. It's stupid but it's sorta how the system works. I don't think it's any sort of secret either. They tell you to do something, if you don't do it, you get in trouble. :/

Also, there are certain training courses for different ranks. I know my husband went to his training before he was even able to test for his next rank, just in case he made rank.
: That's how it was when I was AD AF and it still is for dh who is AD. There are definite pros and cons of being military. One of the things I loved was that I got paid the same amount as my dh did for doing the same job. It's nice not to have a glass ceiling, kwim? Then of course there's also a lot of sexual harrassment that happens...but that wasn't a shock to me when I went in. At the time the AF had only 17% women and that was more than any other branch. Not that I wanted to be harrassed and actually I never had that problem but it wouldn't have shocked me either (I wouldn't have blown it off and would have done something about it though, just to be clear).
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