Accomodation centers provide privacy for breastfeeding

News – The Daily Cougar By Emily Lincke March 10, 2017

Numerous lactation accommodation centers are located on campus, including an easy-access room on the first floor of the Student Center for breastfeeding mothers. | Courtesy of UH Media Relations
University of Houston mothers with infants navigate not only the daily responsibilities of University life, but also the commitments of child care — like breastfeeding.
Universities and workplaces added lactation accommodation resources after 2010 federal healthcare regulations mandated employers grant mothers time to breastfeed. In accordance with the regulations, UH’s Women and Gender Resource Center established lactation centers across campus in 2012 for students, staff or faculty to nurse their infants during break time.
“The mother’s rooms were a necessity for me because I didn’t have a private office at the time,” said Stephanie Coates, department business administrator and social work master’s candidate. “I ended up nursing for a full year, which was my goal — I’m not saying it should be everyone’s goal — but I wouldn’t have been able to without the mothers’ rooms.”
Coates used UH’s lactation centers multiple times a day in 2015.
More than 50 women register to access the lactation centers every semester. According to WGRC’s website, the rooms are available to students, faculty and staff for up to one year after their nursing child is born, and the hours of operation vary for each room.
Ashley Griffin, the sexual misconduct support services coordinator for the Women and Gender Resource Center said resources like the lactation centers give moms on campus more freedom to make choices, like breastfeeding, that affect their children’s health.
She said that for many moms, that choice is empowering.
Regardless of national debates about the appropriateness of breastfeeding in public, WGRC Director Devan Ford-McCarthy believes the mothers’ rooms are accepted at UH.
“Not specific to UH, but there has always been a somewhat negative stigma ...


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