Lactation rooms on college campuses

[akr225]

Hi all you lactivists! I am a journalism student at NYU working on an article about lactation rooms on college campuses. If you have a story about your campus I would love to hear it. Maybe your campus doesn't provide a place for you to bf/pump and you've had bad experiences associated with that. Or maybe your campus does provide a place and it's been great. Or maybe your campus didn't have a room until you made them get one. Please pass along your stories and thanks for any help you can provide!

[mzfern]

Hi! Still waiting for my little one to arrive, so no stories for you from me. You also might want to try the Working Mamas (under Parenting) if you don't get many responses here. There are student mamas that post in the Working Mamas section. Good luck with your research!

[maxmama]

We had several on my campus. They were set up by the lactation specialists in the NICU of the associated hospital. I never used them as a student, but used them frequently as an employee. They were lockable, had sinks and dedicated MEdela Lactinas, so all you had to bring were your parts.

If you want to talk with the woman who set up the program, PM me and I'll pass on her name. It was at the University of Washington's Seattle campus..

[KrystalC]

My college campus has NO facilities whatsoever, but I'm working with the Women's Outreach Center on changing that!

Earlier this summer, I heard the tell-tale sound of a woman using a manual pump in the stall next to me and I just felt sooooo bad for her. Not only does it take forever that way, but she had to do it in a public restroom!!!! I'm currently pregnant and it really made me think "How many women on campus have to do this?" so I looked on my university's website and discovered that there are NO lactation rooms anywhere!

I contacted the Director of the Women's Outreach Center and we recently had a meeting with regard to writing a proposal to convince university administrators to have suitable facilities placed on campus. Four of us are currently doing research to include in the proposal and we're hoping to have it written soon.

Feel free to PM me if you need more info!

[kalirush]

On my campus, there are three lactation rooms that I know of. There's one in the hospital that's *awesome*, has four lovely pumping stations, a fridge, a sink, phones at each station and an LC whose office is just off the pump room if you have trouble.

The other two are single stations, and I think are the result of some individual mom who works someplace getting herself someplace to pump.

Three rooms might sound good, but when you realize that my campus is one of the biggest in the country, and we have something like 50,000 students... it's pretty paltry. I'm lucky in that I happen to work close to the hospital, so going there to pump isn't a big deal.

I should add, though, that these rooms are not publicized AT ALL. I knew what I was looking for, and it took me two weeks of calling around and going to see people to finally find them. I know at least one woman in my department who is shyer than I am, and who lost her milk at 3 months because she didn't know where she could pump (there's NOWHERE in my department).

Anyway, good stuff and bad stuff at my university.

Julia

[emma10]

UC Berkeley

UC Berkeley has a Women's Center which has a Family Room which is a small interior room in the center (can close blinds into center) where women most typically go to nurse babies or to pump if they wish but they're pumping maybe in the room with other mothers. Most didn't seem to care. At least we had a sofa and a computer and some jumpy toys and carpet. And a fridge and a changing table with free diapers. Lots of info for new mothers too. They also put changing tables (pull-down) into a few bathrooms in public union areas, not classroom buildings. Since I basically got kicked out of my "dept" when I had a baby in grad school (he made too much noise to be brought in the building I was told), I lived in this Women's Center til I finished my PhD. Most moms were 18-20 years old, single, first-time. It was a great place. All schools, at least large universities should have one.

[guestmama9911]

My husband's campus is small and doesn't even hae changing tables in the bath rooms. So, when I'm there, I change my son on the floor in the lobby and then breastfeed in plain view. I've never had anyone say anything, however, I have kind of a "Screw You" aura so it's possible people want to say something but won't.

[westchestermama]

hey i'm at nyu, too! i haven't looked for a "pumping station" but would love to know if one existed--i might need it next semester. this semester i breastfeed my dd on the 6th floor of the education building while sitting on a cabinet/bench in the hallway and catching up with my classmates. then she has "daddy time" with my husband while i attend class. most passer-bys seem supportive. one male student even said "that rocks!' when he noticed i was nursing. my professor said "what a beauitful sight".

so sorry to hear that others felt that their babies wre not welcome at their schools! i have felt lots of suuport from my department.

[laurdsed]

Our campus has 6!

Even though I've never used them, I discovered that our campus has 6 Lactation Rooms and a website that lists them along with breastfeeding resources in the community. I thought that was very cool.
http://www.housing.wisc.edu/OCCFR/we.../lactation.htm

Laurel

[nonconformnmom]

Someone posted on MDC a few months ago that they were collecting campus lactation room resources and locations and created an online clearinghouse of all the ones they know about. I sent in the ones for our campus, but now I don't recall the site name. You might try a search on MDC or a google search.

Our campus has, I think 6 lactation rooms. They are very nice; some of them have electric Lactina pumps in the room. I've never used them because I have my own electric pump and an office with a door that locks. The "lactation room" in my building (which is technically off-campus) is in the shower stall of the bathroom. : There is a tiny plastic table/stool that looks like it wouldn't hold a liter of soda, and a shelf. Oh, and of course the shower stall itself. The space is too small to fit a chair in.