“Hey Kim! Is there a place in Regina that I can donate frozen breast milk. I have so much more than I need and don’t know what to do with it.” This is a common text or email that I receive. The short answer is “Yes”.  There is a formal route and an informal route. 
Northern Star Mothers Milk Bank in Calgary is the closest milk bank that we have to donate to in a formal manner. In Saskatchewan, we do have several depot drop points for approved donors. Approved donors; what are those?  Mothers have to be screened and approved before they can donate to the milk bank or take to the milk depots. You can see eligibility criteria here.  If you are eligible you can start the intake process. At the Northern Star Milk Bank donated milk is pooled, pasteurized and tested. This milk is then provided, at a cost, to sick babies in hospitals and homes around the country. 

“I thought I’d be absolutely fine ... I thought I’d just get on with it and it would be easy really ... (but) people were really shocked by the fact that you’re breastfeeding in public. I kind of felt like I didn’t care, but I did care a lot, and it was really difficult ... I just found it really stressful, really embarrassing, really horrible” (Boyer, 2012, p557).

Breastfeeding is universally acknowledged as the normal, expected way for an infant to get nutrition in the early months and years. Despite strong recommendations from the World Health Organization and essentially every national health body in the world, breastfeeding rates, and in particular exclusive breastfeeding rates at six months, remain lower than recommended around the world. Health survey data Canada  found a breastfeeding initiation rate of 87.3% and a six month exclusive breastfeeding rate of 25.9% in 2009-2010. 
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We live in a complex world and as such, breastfeeding in our complex world comes with challenges. There are themes across all groups of women regardless of age, ethnicity or socioeconomic status. It is important to view breastfeeding not simply as a technical task, which is where most of my time is spent helping breastfeeding mothers, but it truly is as an important part of the transition to motherhood. This transition into motherhood is so vital and is a driving force into my I desire to support women in getting breastfeeding off to as goos of a start as possible. Who wants to transition into motherhood on the wrong foot? Women’s breastfeeding decisions are made in relation to the circumstances of her life, her sociocultural context and her individual experiences such as how much support she has at her disposal. There a several layers to mothers breastfeeding successfully. These layers can be identified as the family; the healthcare system; the community; and society. Today I am focusing on the community aspect. The community should be on layer of support she can rely on. 

Breastfeeding in Canada is a protected right. Women can breastfeed their babies wherever they are so long as mothers and babies are allowed to be in this space. Clear examples of a place that breastfeeding is not allowed are situations like a children not being permitted to be in the lounge the mother is in because infants are not of majority age, she can’t breastfeed there. Or, if there is a place like a gym area where children are not allowed for safety reasons, a mother cannot breastfeed there. Pretty common sense, no? Women otherwise cannot to be told they have to move, cover up, turn another direction, stop breastfeeding or leave the facility (or any other variation of the sort you can come up with).  Even though the law is on their side, mothers still experience criticism and discrimination. With two incidents in Regina that lead Regina mothers to social media to share their stories, I put out a call for action to Regina businesses. 

It is so important to create community spaces where women feel truly comfortable breastfeeding. Women who are breastfeeding sometimes describe feeling isolated and excluded from society, primarily because of the social disapproval around breastfeeding in public places. Mother’s describe the feelings they have while breastfeeding in public or even thinking about breastfeeding in public as anxiousness and disapproval. Many women stop breastfeeding sooner than they intend to because of the sense of isolation that results from this reluctance to breastfeed in public places. Developing policies and practices in the community that actively support breastfeeding can positively contribute to breastfeeding rates.

I am so excited that Evolution Fitness reached out to my call to action for Regina businesses. Upon touring the facility yesterday, not only does Evolution fitness support breastfeeding in their facility, they have the capability to provide infant and/or sibling childcare for that new mother, a woman’s only facility in case a new mother wants to have a more private smaller space to work out and they want to provide education to new mothers that help them meet their fitness goals, while continuing to breastfeed. They invited us to host an event at their east location today to celebrate breastfeeding and to let the public know their commitment to breastfeeding. You can see the Global News video coverage or written coverage of the event here.
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Even more on top of that, Evolution Fitness wants to challenge other businesses to be leaders in this area to show us how they support breast-feeding in their facilities. Is your business ready to show your commitment to breastfeeding?