Lessons learned from a student-led breastfeeding support initiative at a NYC academic institution

Breast milk is the optimum form of nutrition for most infants and is recommended as the sole food source for the first six months of life. Breastfeeding has been shown to reduce the risk of many infectious and chronic diseases in babies and mothers, thereby decreasing healthcare costs and contributing to a more productive workforce. Efforts to promote and support breastfeeding are therefore necessary for improving public health. Laws in New York State and the US require most workplaces to provide reasonable unpaid break time and to provide a space near the work area (which is not a restroom) where an employee can express milk in private. However, much of the statutory language is vague and open to interpretation, leading to suboptimal implementation. In response, students at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, in collaboration with Worksites for Wellness, led an initiative to establish a dedicated space for lactating mothers for the purpose of expressing breast milk. A case study representing a successful strategy for implementation of such a space will be presented along with other lessons learned. These efforts highlight the requirement for specific enforcement language, as well as provisions addressing the needs of students at academic institutions.