Breast feeding: Behind closed doors only?

Another skirmish in the breastfeeding wars was reported in the New York Times (Breast-Feeding Boutique in Feud with Condo Board). A condo association of a landmark building on the west side of Manhattan is battling with a lactation boutique housed in a condo on the first floor of the building.

The windowless boutique, called the Upper Breast Side, provides advice to new moms on feeding and pumping, and sells breast-feeding related equipment. At the same times as women learn technique, they meet and garner support from other new mothers.

While the owner-operator considers the space a "community facility" (which is permitted by zoning regulations), the condo association claims it is a retail establishment, in violation of zoning codes. The shop owner has filed a discrimination complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights. According to the same article, NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg has been promoting lactation programs in corporate settings across the city and encouraging new mothers in public hospitals to breast-feed their babies.

To me, this is a reminder that even in the most liberal bastions of America, there are still people who feel uncomfortable when breast-feeding women are too close for comfort. But with increasing health and societal pressures to breast-feed, new moms are often are placed in a Catch-22 when they're discouraged from feeding or expressing milk in public settings, such as restaurants and trains. This is especially true when it comes to the workplace.

When employers offer on-site childcare where new moms can nurse their babies or pump, and pop in during lunch for a short visit, this goes a long way in reducing the stresses of balancing mothering and work. Women lucky enough to work for the U.S. Congress have access to a lactation suite (variously referred to as the Lactation Lobby, Lactation Station, Milk Factory or the Boob Cube). These clean private areas are set aside for women to nurse their babies or comfortably express milk using hospital-grade breast pumps.

 

 

 

Follow Dr. Irene S. Levine on Twitter: www.twitter.com/IreneLevine

Comments

[Baby Feeding Nest]

01:03 AM on 04/13/2011

When are people going to realize the power of breast feeding. When a woman is breast feeding they are not doing something sexual. They are feeding a human being. They are doing something that is natural.

Aimee P.
Writer
www.babyfeedingnest.com

[Pierogi kid]

10:34 AM on 03/17/2011

this is all so stupid why this is even a matter of debate. Breastfeeding is the most normal natural thing a mother can do it is about as offensive as somebody drinking a glass of water. To me the mere fact that there is even a need fo ra breastfeeding boutique (as if breast feeding was something special or exclusive) shows how up tight americans are. In this country Everybody seems to have a problem with every little thing. If it bugs you sooooo much how about just look the other way sheesh/ what a bunch of children we are.

[Gina Cicatelli Ciagne]

02:14 PM on 03/15/2011

As Dr. Levine correctly points out, this is yet another example of people feeling uncomfortable with breastfeeding though they are hiding behind their reasoning that it is a retail-related or zoning issue. The facts are that by breastfeeding, mothers and babies are reaping health benefits that cannot be achieved in other ways. Benefits that include reducing the risk for obesity, overweight, heart disease, certain cancers (like breast and ovarian cancers for mom), ear infections, hospitalization for respiratory infections....the list goes on and on and the research is there to substantiate these claims. The benefits don't just apply to moms and babies while they are breastfeeding as they can last through a lifetime and, thereby, positively affect society as a whole. We, as a nation, must redefine our priorities and understand that it is not enough to tell a mom the benefits and assume she does not need support from within the community. The Upper Breast Side and its owner, Filena Rutkowski Gallagher, helps thousands of moms and babies. We need more support, not less, and I hope that this issue will be resolved with that thinking instead of cowtowing to those who merely feel uncomfortable with breastfeding.

Gina Ciagne, CLC
Senior Director, Breastfeeding Relations
Lansinoh Laboratories
@GinaAtLansinoh
www.lansinoh.com