JANESVILLE When new mothers return to work, some face a big challenge: They need a safe, clean, private space to express breast milk.
Its about more than pumping. Its also about dignity and comfort in the workplace. Some Rock County businesses now provide dedicated lactation rooms and supportive policies aimed to help working mothers balance their careers and family needs.
Women who do not breastfeed or pump regularly risk engorgement a painful swelling of the breast. And when new mothers do not feed or pump every four hours, milk supply can decrease, said lactation specialist Lynda Swearingen.
In severe cases, engorgement can cause plugged milk ducts and mastitis, a bacterial infection that can cause flu-like symptoms, according to Janalyn Eisele, a Public Health Nurse at Rock County Public Health and head of the Rock County Breastfeeding Collective.
In 2022, Congress passed the , which requires employers to allow break time for workers to pump for one year after their childs birth. The law also requires a space that is not a bathroom, shielded from view and without risk of intrusion.
Nationwide, many employers have begun to offer pump stations that do more than just comply with the law.
We try to make it feel like more than just a requirement, its more to make it a friendly, supportive atmosphere, Eisele said.
Eisele said businesses usually reactively install lactation spaces when they learn an employee is a new mom or is pregnant.
That seems to usually be the catalyst, because before they see the need, they dont always realize that its a requirement or that its something people need, Eisele said.
Eisele said the Breastfeeding Collective encourages businesses to go beyond minimum mandated measures such as having a comfortable chair in the room. Before her group will designate a business as a breastfeeding-friendly place, Eisele requires a written policy to inform new employees of the businesss lactation space.
Among the countys first participants in the program: the Janesville Police Department. Janesville PD dedicated a pump room last March.
Mothers have always been given the option to go home during work hours to pump if they live within the city, but we also wanted to make an overall wellness room for pumping that is easier to access for everyone, said Detective Erin Johnson. Law enforcement and motherhood can be a difficult combination at times, so it was extremely important to have a space that women at our agency felt comfortable in.
Casise Hartje, Executive Director of Advancement & Foundation at Blackhawk Technical College said BTCs aim is to have a wraparound, family-friendly approach thats driven by both staff and student needs.
The BTC Beloit-Janesville campus has two lactation pods secure booths designed for breastfeeding mothers to nurse their babies or express breast milk a dedicated lactation room, a parent-study space, and flexible class schedules for parents.
The number of enrolled parents has climbed significantly in the last decade, driving the addition of parent-friendly spaces and practices on campus, Hartje said.
We dont want people to feel like thats something thats insurmountable, she said. We want to make sure people are successful and we want to be able to remove barriers.
Ashley Huerta, a human resources representative at Janesvlle plastic piping manufacturer Tigre USA, led the push for a lactation space at the company after an employee announced she was pregnant.
Its good for employee morale, she said. Sometimes people get scared to say theyre pregnant because they feel that theyre not going to have that support.
Hedberg Public library also recently installed a room for new mothers, though they are still working on a written policy. The County has not yet formally recognized Hedberg as a breastfeeding-friendly business.
The room is lockable and contains a chair, changing table, board books and a rainbow toy station. Library patrons and employees have used the room as a lactation space since the librarys renovations in 2019, but Mariah Smitala, a youth services librarian at Hedberg, said the project to make it a brighter and more hospitable space didnt launch until last year.
Smitala said she took a lead on recreating the space last year because as a new mom, shed used the room to pump. She said before upgrades, the room was dark and unwelcoming.
Now its really bright and colorful, and theres better use of the space, she said. I would have issues with all of the different parts I needed [in order to pump], and now theres lots of table space for that. I still wish it had a sink, but maybe one day.
Dubbed the parenting room, the space isnt only for nursing mothers.
Being a library, we see families of all different kinds, Smitala said. Knowing that kids could be here just with their dad and a young kid could start having a meltdown, they also need a place where they can kind of cut themselves off from the rest of the room.