Lactation rooms on campus!

We're excited to report that Jessica has been working with the ND Space Management Committee on a proposal for some dedicated space for lactation rooms around campus. We wanted to run some of they key points of the proposal by all our BEST mom experts for feedback. Please either comment right on this blog entry, or feel free to send Sara or me an e-mail. (links to the right.) We'll keep you posted as we learn more about when the lactation rooms will be available.

The Indiana state legislature enacted a law on July 1, 2008 requiring all employers with 25+ employees to accommodate individuals’ needs to pump and store breast milk at work.

Based on research and talking with other universities we have identified the following recommendations for the University of Notre Dame:

Recommendation:

Locations: Provide four locations across campus, in areas with large populations of female employees who work in shared environments.

Four originally suggested areas include:
Grace or Flanner
Hesburgh Library
Mendoza College of Business
LaFortune Student Center (possible public site)

Approved space:
Hesburgh Library
McKenna Hall or Hesburgh Center

Space and other Requirements:
Each location should be a minimum of 7 feet by 7 feet
Close proximity to a sink
Electrical outlet
2 gliders/recliners
Table (or two)
Private and secure
Changing table
Blinds on windows (if applicable)
Tri-fold screen that can be used between gliders/chairs

Other:
A lactation room privacy symbol was developed by the University of Michigan and is available for our use on each of our lactation room doors.
We are looking into giving women access with their ND ID cards (similar to access to the Faculty/Staff Weight Room in the Joyce Center).
We will also intend to provide each nursing mom:
An insulated cooler bag for milk storage.
We are also looking into providing a subsidy for a breast pump for each nursing employee.

Other items to consider purchasing:
Clorox
wipes
CD player
Books
Water cooler

Breastfeeding in the news

Two articles came to my attention this week:

Breast-Fed Baby May Mean Better Behaved Child, by Serena Gordon
(HealthDay Reporter, Wed Oct 29, 7:03 pm ET)

Add yet another potential benefit to breast-feeding: Fewer behavioral problems in young children.

Parents of youngsters who were breast-fed as infants were less likely to report that their child had a behavior problem or psychiatric illness during the first five years of life, a new study found. ...

How Breastfeeding Transfers Immunity To Babies
(ScienceDaily, Oct. 27, 2008)

A BYU-Harvard-Stanford research team has identified a molecule that is key to mothers’ ability to pass along immunity to intestinal infections to their babies through breast milk.

The study highlights an amazing change that takes place in a mother’s body when she begins producing breast milk. For years before her pregnancy, cells that produce antibodies against intestinal infections travel around her circulatory system as if it were a highway and regularly take an “off-ramp” to her intestine. There they stand ready to defend against infections such as cholera or rotavirus. But once she begins lactating, some of these same antibody-producing cells suddenly begin taking a different “off-ramp,” so to speak, that leads to the mammary glands. That way, when her baby nurses, the antibodies go straight to his intestine and offer protection while he builds up his own immunity.

This is why previous studies have shown that formula-fed infants have twice the incidence of diarrheal illness as breast-fed infants....

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Scorpions for Breakfast and Snails for Dinner

On a lighter note, I thought I would share this amusing NYT article on picky eaters. For those of us who aren't in circumstances to provide such exotic food experiences, I think this plug for breastfeeding applies to even the non-Italian mothers among us:

I asked my wife if we deserve credit for rearing such adventurous eaters. Not we, she said. According to Paola, our kids started off right because she breast-fed them, which “opened their taste buds.” I’m not sure that’s scientific. It’s possible Italians are so haughty about their cuisine that they think even their breast milk is superior.

Not so helpful hospitals

The CDC recently came out with a report that shows that hospitals are not doing all that well with breastfeeding-friendly practices.

The findings indicate substantial prevalences of maternity practices that are not evidence-based and are known to interfere with breastfeeding - CDC

Among their findings:

• Nearly one-quarter (24%) of birth facilities reported supplementing the majority of healthy, full-term, breastfed newborns with “something other than breast milk…a practice shown to be unnecessary and detrimental to breastfeeding."
• 65% told mothers to limit the duration of suckling
• 45% gave pacifiers to the majority of infants
• 70% gave breastfeeding moms “gift bags” with formula samples

The lowest scoring areas for Indiana were the categories "Breastfeeding support after discharge", and "Nurse/breastfeeding attendant training and education".

Here's the link to the complete CDC report.

The importance of milk banks

Here is a powerful story about the importance of a milk bank to one family.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4628102&page=1

New breastfeeding law

I wanted to share that new legislation related to support of breastfeeding in the workplace was recently signed into law by the Governor! Following is the text of the law, and you can read more at the Indiana General Assembly website.

Lactation support in the workplace. Provides that the state and political subdivisions: (1) shall provide for reasonable paid breaks for an employee to express breast milk for the employee's infant child; (2) must make reasonable efforts to provide a room or other location in close proximity to the work area where the employee can express the employee's breast milk in privacy; and (3) must make reasonable efforts to provide for a refrigerator or other cold storage for keeping breast milk that has been expressed. Provides that other employers that employ 25 or more individuals, to the extent reasonably possible, must provide: (1) a private location for an employee to express the employee's breast milk during any period away from the employee's assigned duties; and (2) a refrigerator or other cold storage space, or allow the employee to provide the employee's own portable storage device, for keeping the expressed milk until the end of the employee's work day. Provides that, except in case of willful misconduct, gross negligence, or bad faith, an employer is not liable for any harm caused by or arising from: (1) the expressing of an employee's breast milk; or (2) the storage of expressed milk; on the employer's premises.

Something frivolous

I was looking for something else when I happened to discover this:

Free Pattern: Breastfeeding Advocacy Cloth

Thought I'd post it, just as something fun.