INSTITUTE FOR PATIENT-CENTERED DESIGN
Breastfeeding momsneed community support to successfully provide breast milk for their babies for at least the first year of life. While some mothers are able to stay home with their babies and breastfeed, other mothers face challenges that may threaten breast milk supply, such as returning to work. Regardless of whether the mom works outside the home, most do travel within their communities for weekly errands and appointments.
Provisions have been made in many facilities to support breastfeeding moms who need to feed their babies or to express breast milk outside of the home; however, ignorance about the life-sustaining value of human breast milk and stigmas surrounding the female body have prompted unfriendly responses to breastfeeding in public.
Community support comes in the form of:
Educational programs for women of childbearing age, highlighting the benefits of breast milk, the risk
associated with breast milk substitutes, and the rights of mothers to breastfeed and express breast milk.
Childcare programs that allow mothers to breastfeed on site and to bring expressed breast milk for infant feedings.
Retail and Dining Facilities that accommodate breastfeeding mother-baby couplets
Workplace lactation programs.
For more information on community support programs in your area, please contact the breastfeeding coalition in your state.
