Intervention Strategies and Lessons Learned From a Student-Led Initiative to Support Lactating Women in the University Setting

Abstract

The benefits of breastfeeding for mother and baby are strongly supported by research. However, lactating parents who return to school or work soon after delivery face many barriers to continued breastfeeding. This article presents a student-led initiative to support lactation at a large public university that emerged from advocacy efforts of student mothers of color. The socioecological model was used as a framework to understand and address the multifaceted influences on breastfeeding practices. Project activities included providing breastfeeding education to lactating parents and their partners, measuring availability and accessibility of lactation spaces, improving lactation spaces, connecting university stakeholders, and strengthening university lactation policies. The project achieved the following outcomes: formation of a stakeholder group with members across campus departments, improvement in accessibility and appropriateness of lactation spaces, provision of breastfeeding services through workshops and one-on-one appointments with lactation educators, and creation and dissemination of an online toolkit outlining parents’ lactation rights and support available on campus. Comprehensive lactation support at universities is essential to enhance educational and professional equity for women and to promote postpartum and infant health. Throughout the project implementation, the team learned many lessons that can help guide similar university initiatives.

Fierce Mothers: The Cords that Bind Us

“…Weaving together our own spiritual motivations drove us to change the conditions for Mothers and Parents of Color in the academy through collective and individual commitments to inspire action and support healing justice in academic spaces and within our communities. As such through our spiritual acts of activism, we created meaning for ourselves, for children, and the next generation (Lara and Facio,3) in how we experience parenting and caretaking in higher education. C. Alejandra Elenes' work reminds us that spirituality "means more than one's relation with God or a Creator because it is tied with struggles for social justice and gender equality" (Lara and Facio,4).…”

“…As we talked about our successes through our various collectivities and partnerships on campus, we came to the joint realization that we were exhausted from the bureaucracy involved in navigating the institution. We had spent so much time meeting with our partners, collaborators, and stakeholders, as well as facilitating a needs assessment survey for lactation spaces (Bell et al, 2021). As full-time doctoral candidates with small children, we felt the deep burnout of the multiple meetings and commitments asked of us.…”

“…MOCA, in partnership with public health students from a reproductive health student group, collected data from current students and alumni and learned that many scholars identified an absence of lactation spaces during their academic tenure at this campus. 3 We led the effort as a collective voice to challenge the lack of response to our demands for reasonable lactation accommodations. For many years, lactating student mothers were met without answers, sent to dirty basements, led towards the restroom, or confined to glass wall research rooms where our students could see us pump.…”