The University of Louisiana at Lafayette has been designated a breastfeeding friendly workplace champion by the Mary Amelia Center at Tulane University and the Louisiana Breastfeeding Coalition.
UL Lafayette opened three lactation rooms last month and adopted a university-wide lactation accommodation policy.
This has been a yearlong project by nurse practitioner Leshawn Alexander, a doctoral student in nursing practice. Alexander researched policies around the country. She secured a grant from the March of Dimes to stock UL Lafayette’s rooms with pamphlets on maternal and newborn health.
“The policy gives you a leg to stand on,” Alexander said, a parent of a two-year-old. “At that point, it’s not something where there’s a makeshift room or something that’s done here and there. It gives you a piece of paper to fall back on that says, hey, we’re going to stand behind this. It’s important to us and we’re going to do it.”
UL Lafayette’s administration was receptive to the lactation accommodation policy and worked to find space on campus, according to Dr. Helen Hurst, an associate professor in the College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions.
Hurst says to qualify for the designation the university had to adopt a policy that provides reasonable break times for mothers to pump milk and at least one permanent, private room near a sink.
“Everybody was so open here at the university when we started to talk about it,” Hurst said. “I would get emails from faculty members once they found out we were doing it that would say, oh my goodness, I remember when I was breastfeeding I had to go in a closet. Or, I used to go in the bathroom. Or, I just had to lock my door. We so need this,” Hurst said.
The work isn’t over. Hurst will continue to press for a designated room for nursing mothers in large venues, like the Cajundome. She hopes other universities contact UL Lafayette for guidance on implementing a policy and establishing rooms.
“I think most people when they think about setting up something like this they anticipate there will be a lot of roadblocks. People are a lot more open to it than you’d realize,” Hurst said. “People aren’t really aware of the lactation laws and breastfeeding laws related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”
Alexander established an anonymous time-use monitoring log so she can track how often the rooms are used and a feedback survey for mothers who use the rooms. They are appointed with a glider rocker and end table.
“I’ve been at UL Lafayette for about 10 years now. It’s good that I’ll be able to leave something positive at the university once I finish up my doctor of nursing practice degree,” Alexander said.
