Good news for breastfeeding moms in the US! The IRS has officially announced that breast pumps and their related supplies are tax deductible medical expenses! This is for your 2010 taxes (due next month) and all years moving forward. The official IRS wording is “supplies that assist lactation” which could be read to include herbal products for making more milk, nursing bras and pads, the freezer bags to store breastmilk, books about how to breastfeed or breastpump, and bottles for feeding breastmilk to the baby.

For years, the IRS held that these were better understood as foods rather than as medical supplies, and only medical costs are tax deductible. However, with pressure from the American Academy of Pediatrics and certain congressmen, the IRS has become informed enough about the persuasive medical benefits for breastfeeding that it now officially now considers breastfeeding supplies as deductible medical expenses. It is also fortunate for taxpayers that many purchases of breastfeeding supplies can occur in the same year as pregnancy and birth, which usually bring their own tab of tax-deductible medical costs.

Previously, the IRS considered breast pumps to be feeding equipment, not medical devices. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics argued that breastfeeding has many medical benefits for both mother and baby. Advocates hope that making breast pumps more affordable will enable more women to breastfeed longer.

“Unfortunately, due to financial restraints and work demands, not all women are afforded the opportunity to nurse their children, despite the proven health benefits,” the academy said in a 2009 letter to IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman that was also signed by nine other medical groups. “In order to continue to breastfeed successfully, millions of mothers working outside the house require a breast pump.”

For more details, the actual IRS code can be read at this link
Being that Tender Cargo is a Medela Certified Nursing Center, of course we sell everything from the breast pumps to every little accessory or replacement part you could ever need. Keep those receipts!

Click this link for the PDF of the full press release ASTM Moves Closer to Developing Standard for Baby Slings Tender Cargo store owner Christine Alonso is a board member of The Baby Carrier Industry Alliance and a Berkeley California mom of 3.

The Baby Carrier Industry Alliance (BCIA) today applauded the efforts of all stakeholders involved in the three year effort that brought the first voluntary safety standard for sling-style carriers to ballot last month. When finalized later this year, the standard will join those for cribs, strollers, hand-held infant carriers (car seats), bouncer seats, play yards and other durable nursery products as an effective way to provide the public with safer products.

The standards process, initiated by a group of sling manufacturers comprised of BCIA members, is administered by ASTM International, one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world. In addition to BCIA, other stakeholders involved in the standards process include the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Health Canada, Juvenile Products Manufacturing Association (JPMA), consumer groups (including Consumers Union, Kids in Danger and Consumer Federation of America), testing labs, retailers and manufacturers.

The new sling carrier standard will provide manufacturers with expert engineering and human factors guidance on how to design safer products based on industry best practices. In addition, it will offer recommendations on instructions and warnings for the safe use of sling carriers.
…

BCIA reminds parents and caregivers that the practice of babywearing keeps babies in the safest place possible, in a parent’s arms with baby’s face visible to the carrying adult. For additional information on babywearing safety, please visit the BCIA website at http://www.babycarrierindustryalliance.org.

Click this link for the PDF of the full press release ASTM Moves Closer to Developing Standard for Baby Slings.

Join us the morning of April 23rd 2011 to set the world record for most cloth diapers changed at one time. This is an international event with several California Bay Area locations. Read more here and pre-register online.

The Great Cloth diaper change is a worldwide event. Tender Cargo is hosting one location at our East Bay store “The Nurture Center” in Lafayette CA. The event is free to attend but we need a participant count to ensure enough space. Guinness ™ requires 25 people at a minimum for every location. Also a $1 donation to the Real Diaper Association (501c3 nonprofit organization) is requested.

We will need volunteers to observe and certify the event for Guinness. Also volunteers to spread the word and invite others to join the fun.

For northern California locals the short signup link to  post in facebook, twitter, or email is   http://bit.ly/norcalpreregform

For information on locations in any other region, link to http://greatclothdiaperchange.com/