World Breastfeeding Week Events
Chris Musser, the Reluctant Lactivist, has co-founded a support group for Mamas nursing in public called Mom's Milk Anywhere or MomMa for short. This week, in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week, MomMa is hosting gatherings to show support for nursing Moms:
August 2nd, 10AM: Nursing moms' coffee at Starbucks at the Civic Center in Hillsboro
August 3rd, 11AM: Nursing moms' coffee at Milagros Boutique, 5429 NE 30th Avenue
August 4th, 2PM: Nursing moms' coffee at Washington Square II Barnes & Noble Cafe
August 5th,11AM: Nurse-out and family picnic at Pioneer Courthouse Square
Just a thought: women who work outside the home nurse too! Maybe more than one of those events could have been scheduled for a non-work-day.
Posted by: betsy | August 02, 2006 at 09:58 AM
Definitely a good point, Betsy. Working moms who are trying to ensure that their children gain all of the countless benefits of breastfeeding can face a lot of challenges. At Milagros, we allow our employees to bring a child to work but that is an admittedly unusual arrangement.
As we plan breastfeeding support events at Milagros, we will definitely consider scheduling that meets the needs of working Mamas engaged in traditional work week schedules.
Posted by: Milagros | August 02, 2006 at 10:43 AM
Hi, Betsy (and Tony and Jennifer!)
We did have our "big" event on Saturday so that more working moms could attend. Ongoing, we will have an evening meeting on the second Monday of the month. The first will be August 14th, from 7-9pm, at the Concordia New Seasons (33rd & Killingsworth). We'll meet at a different New Season every month. Why New Seasons? Because they were the first chain and first retailer to receive the DHS Breastfeeding Mother Friendly Employer designation!
We are looking for moms who want to work on improving SB 618, which "encourages" employers to accommodate breastfeeding moms, but unfortunately has no mandate (the bill was watered down in the legislative process). MomMA will be working with the Nursing Mothers Counsel this fall to strengthen that measure, but most of our active members are SAHMs and it be great if some WOHMs would join us in our efforts!
Posted by: Chris | August 08, 2006 at 08:13 AM
I would love to be helpful and will try to make it to some of these events. I'm not a nursing mom at the moment, but will be in a couple of months. Thanks for the updates!
Posted by: betsy | August 08, 2006 at 09:07 AM