Student mothers face challenges nursing on campus

By Afina Malek
Western Herald

Jordan Blough-Orr, a senior majoring in early elementary education at Western Michigan University, gave birth this past summer to a baby boy. She is now facing the challenges of having to nurse her son privately on campus.
According to Blough-Orr, it is difficult to feed her child privately, as proper facilities are not provided on campus. She says nursing in the bathroom is not an option, due to its impracticality.
“The bathroom doesn’t have an outlet, and to be able to pump my milk I need to be able to plug the pump in,” Blough-Orr said.

“I am perfectly fine with feeding my son before I go to class. However, it’s not really a possibility for me to go through a day from 9:30 in the morning to my last class that ends at 3:15 in the evening without either feeding him or pumping,” she said.

Olivia Weatherwax is one of the Kalamazoo leaders of La Leche League, an international non profit organization that supports breast-feeding mothers.

She said benefits from breast-feeding are far-reaching and can last a lifetime.

“Nursing can encourage bonding and attachment between mother and baby,” she said.

According to Weatherwax, The American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization are two organizations that suggest babies receive breast milk for at least one full year, so many businesses, as well as universities, help employed breastfeeding mothers by providing suitable place to nurse.

“I think any university, including WMU, could easily provide an appropriate place for its student mothers to pump,” Weatherwax said. “A small room, such as an unused office, with a lock on the door, a small table and comfortable chair, and an electrical outlet are the basics needed for a pumping room.”

She said with a large campus, at least two of these rooms would be ideal, so that mothers don’t have to run across campus in order to pump and make it to class on time.

Angela Moe, associate professor of sociology, with an affiliation with Gender and Women’s Program at WMU, said the university community could provide support for mothers on campus, such as having an open mind towards those who wants to breast-feed in public.

“Women’s bodies are not disgusting or evil. They’re amazing in what they can do in producing and sustaining life,” Moe said.

“This ought to be honored and celebrated, not hidden and masked.”

University of Nebraska-Lincoln has recently set up a few lactation sites around its campus.

According the university’s official Web page, the university’s new policy is committed in “creating a family-friendly environment for students, faculty and staff.”

Kathy Gilbert, director of Children’s Place Learning Center at WMU, said the center provides child-care to student-parents, faculty, staff and the Kalamazoo community.
According to Gilbert, the center takes care of children beginning at 18 months of age, so they do not usually have mothers that breast-feed.

“However, when we do, the parent is welcome to come and feed her child at the center,” she said.

“We try to be accommodating,” Alison Carlson, assistant director at the center, said.

Even though appropriate space is not available for breast-feeding, the center tries to provide a small area (copy and storage room), if available, for nursing mothers.

“It’s a small center,” Carlson said.

Blough-Orr thinks if the college is in fact dedicated to enriching the lives of individuals of all ages, a good start for their students, or the student’s child should be provided.

“Almost every female person on this campus is within their childbearing years. It’s time for WMU to step up and back up what they say is important to them by actually fostering an environment that feels safe and welcoming to everyone; a mother, a child, or a student,” Blough-Orr said.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=12423

Posted by heraldstaff on Nov 23 2009. Filed under Campus, Local, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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