IN THENEWS

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FEATURE ARTICLE:

Ten Years with SDCBC

By To-wen Tseng | November 15, 2023

Thanksgiving is upon us. This year, I’m grateful for family, friends, my fellow breastfeeding activists, and most of all, San Diego County Breastfeeding Coalition.

I started to blog for SDCBC in November, 2013, when my first child was six months old and when I lost my last job over a breastfeeding discrimination claim. With that being said, this blog post marks my 10-year-anniversary with SDCBC.

And it’s bittersweet for me to write this post because this will be the last post I write for SDCBC blog.

When I first got pregnant, I thought I’d “try to breastfeed if I have milk.” But when my baby arrived and latched on for the first time, I knew immediately it was how I wanted to bond with my baby.

My biggest struggle was returning to work when my baby was three months old. The company denied my lactation right at work despite the California labor law. I was angry and frustrated. I reached out to SDCBC and Legal Aid at Work (then Legal Aid Society) for support. Legal Aid as Work settled the claim for me and I started to blog for SDCBC.

Motherhood opened the door to wonderful opportunities for me to write for my local breastfeeding coalition and to work alongside some of the greatest breastfeeding rights pioneers in this country. It also provokes inspiration for me to move toward a new career. I’m a working journalist. Prior to becoming a mom, I covered customs, borders, immigrants, international crime, and disaster for almost ten years. Since my first child was born, I’ve been covering mother/infant health, parenting, education, K-12 schools, and family lifestyle.

I honestly feel that the life, both career and otherwise, that I have right now works much better for both myself and my family. I’m also proud to help other families and moms by advocating for family-friendly policies.

All of these wouldn’t happen without SDCBC. It’s been an amazing journey but it’s time for me to move on. With this blog post, let me just shout out a big thank you to the SDCBC team. And to the future generation of (breastfeeding or not) mothers to come, let me just say, that you’re stronger and less lonely than you think. Your voice matters, so please vote and speak up when you can. When you struggle, remember support is available out there—SDCBC is a good place to start.