From right, Ithica, Mich., resident Cheri Booth, Marshall, Mich., resident Kathy Foerster and Williamston, Mich., resident Shelia Smith walk together at the Breastfeeding Awareness Walk.
—Breast-feeding mothers face unique challenges when returning to work, and MSU’s Breastfeeding Initiative, or BFI, is hoping to create solutions.
The organization held its second annual Breastfeeding Awareness Walk on Wednesday along the Red Cedar River to inform the MSU community of obstacles faced by working, breast-feeding mothers, said Sheilah Hebert, a lactation consultant and associate program leader for the BFI’s Mother to Mother Program.
World Breastfeeding Week began Sunday and ends Saturday, and celebrates the signing of the Innocenti Declaration, which was produced and adopted in 1990 by participants at a World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund meeting on breast-feeding.
“All the information is out there that breast-feeding is obviously the best nutrition and the best for babies, but so many moms don’t have the support they need to make that happen,” Hebert said.
Breast-feeding mothers must be given a private room other than a restroom at their workplace for one year after the child’s birth for use during the work day, according to a law that took effect March 23 as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The MSU community should be aware that breast-feeding is important, and the workplace environments need to be more receptive to the practice, Hebert said.
Many buildings on campus do not have a private area for breast-feeding mothers, said Laraine Walton, an administrative assistant at MSU’s Family Resource Center.
“Especially if you are a working parent it’s hard because there’s no set time when you have to pump,” she said.
“If your supervisor is not supportive of that, then it can be hard.”
Many breast-feeding mothers use public restrooms to pump their breast milk, Walton said. “I always say, ‘Would you want your chef to cook your meals in a public restroom?’” she said.
Some women return to supportive workplaces, said Amy Refior, an East Lansing resident and participant at the walk.
“When I returned from my maternity leave, my managers had completely taken care of finding a place for me to pump during the day,” Refior said. “Finding the time to do that is what’s difficult.”
The health benefits of breast-feeding are well known and mothers need to advocate for a change in the culture, Hebert said.
“People should know breast-feeding is the norm and that’s how babies should be fed,” she said.
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