Breastfeeding Law and Legal Definition
Breastfeeding is the practice of a woman feeding an infant with milk produced from her mammary glands, usually directly from the nipples. The infant extracts the milk from the breast through its instinctive suckling. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), among others, recommend breastfeeding as the preferred method of feeding a baby because of its health benefits to the child and mother.
In the U.S. the "Right to Breastfeed Act" (HR 1848) was enacted on September 29, 1999 protecting the right of a woman to breastfeed her child anywhere on federal property. However, state laws upholding the right to breastfeed in public places vary by state. In 2005, Illinois passed a new state law that says mothers can breastfeed anywhere they want without fear of prosecution.
