Moms and their young ones in the first baby café in Spring Valley
SPRING VALLEY – Rockland County officials and community partners announced on Monday that the county’s Department of Health was selected as one of six organizations in the state to receive a piece of a $7.2 million grant initiative for the promotion of breastfeeding within communities.
Rockland received $1.2 million, being rolled out incrementally over five years, for the creation of five baby cafés, places where mothers can go to breastfeed and pump milk free of charge, as well as for creating a community-based breastfeeding coalition of at least 20 actively participating organizations, breastfeeding education, training, and the development of breastfeeding-friendly sites for mothers at various local businesses.
The announcement was made from the region’s first baby café located in the WIC building on South Main in Spring Valley. It has been fully furnished with repurposed furniture from a county building.
Rockland County Executive Edwin Day said he was pleased that the county now has the ability to promote an initiative for which there is local need.
“Any time we have an opportunity to do something that’s going to hand health benefits for children, for families; it’s an opportunity we should not lose if we can avoid it,” said Day. “So, in this particular case, we’re bringing the services; children who’ve been breastfed have been shown over and over again that they live healthier lives; so, if we can encourage moms to do that, with a full understanding of what benefits it brings to their children, I think it’s a wonderful thing.”
There is a labor law designating that breastfeeding mothers be allowed to express and store breast milk within their place of employment, since breast feeding mothers have to express milk every few hours in order to avoid health complications. The law also entitles them to be able to receive sick-time benefits, as the breastfeeding stage is considered a medical condition.
A major focus of this initiative will be to help local employers meet those requirements in the workplace by having lactation areas, as well as inform unknowing working mothers of these rights, especially in underserved areas.
“The challenge is that a lot of the low-income moms that are going to be working, we’re going to focus on worksites where there might not be space where they can create that for them,” said Breast Feeding Support and Promotion Project Coordinator Laurie Messinger. “So, there is grant funding that will help to provide these lactation spaces at worksites. In addition, alternative ways like maybe partitions, or things that we can do to section off areas, even if it can’t be a dedicated space, to help these moms so this way they can pump at work.”
The county will begin receiving the grant funds on February 1, also when the WIC Baby Café becomes operational, and they expect to establish four more baby café’s, focusing on the Ramapo and Clarkstown areas, within the five-year funding period.
