Nursing Your Kids

More in the news.

Here’s some bad news and a bad headline: Breastfeeding in Public: Nature or Nudity

Melanie Flores was told she couldn’t breastfeed her one year old son in a Pac Sun store at an Ohio mall. Ohio law says moms have the right to breastfeed. Flores is still waiting for an apology and is working on establishing a breastfeeding awareness foundation.

Two months after being kicked out of a Toledo mall store for breastfeeding, a Toledo mom still wants someone to say they’re sorry. The story we broke in September ignited debate and outrage and raises the question: nature or nudity?

You’d think the company would at least have the decency to apologize, especially since breastfeeding is legal in stores in Ohio.

And then there’s some good news.

When Manhattan City Councilwoman Jessica Lappin gave birth to her son Luke eight months ago, she found there was nowhere for her to pump breastmilk at work. She approached Council Speaker Christine Quinn about creating a lactation room. Quinn’s staff took it a step further and created a policy that ensured breast feeding employees can use break time to pump.

“All supervisors will get a briefing, if you will, from senior staff so they understand this isn’t just some extra privilege we’re giving these women,” said Quinn. “This is something we have to incorporate into the work day so these moms can be great moms and great public servants.”

The lactation room opened last Friday, not long after a bill passed in Albany that requires employers to allow women to pump milk. The room created in the council’s office building

“… has a hygienic refrigerator, a refrigerator that locks, a sink with running water, electricity, a door that locks and a curtain here for added privacy…”

Every workplace should have a room like this. Women who have to (or want to) return to work after the birth of their child would have a much easier time breastfeeding exclusively for the recommended six months if they had access to a comfortable, private place to express and store milk.