1511cf66_all_To_Action_on_Breastfeeding__Topic
[ID] 641 [Interest Areas] Concerned Citizen [Comment] Despite many initial struggles with breastfeeding my daughter, I persisted and was able to feed her exclusively with my milk. However, once my maternity leave was complete and I returned to work, I faced a whole new set of issues. I am a registered nurse. My primary concern when returning to work would be whether I would have someplace clean and private to pump. We have a locker room (with no seating, and is open to all) and a break room (again, open to all). When I asked human resources about pumping at work, they knew nothing about it and referred me to my manager to find a solution to my issue. In my opinion, HR should be making the effort to find me a clean, private place to pump. It seems like in a hospital filled with nurses (the vast majority of whom are young and female), this is an issue that should have already been addressed, but it's been ignored. My manager ultimately let me use her office to pump, but that's only a good solution because I work every weekend and she isn't around on the weekends. I cannot use an empty patient's room to pump because I do not feel it is sanitary and the rooms do not have doors I can close. I know some states have laws mandating that a clean, private place be available for pumping, but PA is not one of them. I strongly believe this should be a law that spans all 50 states. It is hard enough for me to find the time to pump during my 12.5 hour shift. Sometimes I'm lucky if I get to pump once during the entire day. It's unfortunate that the very hard work that goes into making breastfeeding successful with a newborn becomes even more difficult once a mom returns to work after 3 months or less. The WHO and APA recommend breastfeeding (or formula) strictly for the first 6 months, and the challenges of work make this more difficult to make a reality. [Topic] 
Worksite Lactation Support, Onsite Child Care, and Milk Expression
Call To Action on Breastfeeding
Topic