Preparing your child care center to handle breast milk
Is your child care center staff trained to handle breast milk? Here's what to ask.
Planning on breastfeeding and your child will be in day care? In a recent survey of 47 day care centers in Philadelphia, only forty percent had staff trained in the benefits of breastfeeding and how to prepare and store human milk. Ninety-five percent of centers indicated they would not feed an infant anything besides human milk unless specifically stated in a feeding plan, according to the study in the May/June issue of The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing wanted to know how supportive child care facilities were of breastfeeding. They investigated individual child care centers' attitudes and policies related to breastfeeding in Center City, Philadelphia and West Philadelphia. The researchers collected data by compiling a list of child care centers – a total of 166 in all – in the areas of study. They then conducted telephone surveys of the centers that met the inclusion criteria.
Their research concluded that there is much room for improvement in educating and training child care providers and staff on the benefits of breastfeeding and human milk. More training would also aid in the proper dissemination of information about breastfeeding to families
We asked Diane Spatz, PhD, RN-BC, FAAN, a professor of Perinatal Penn Nursing who led the study, to tell us more about the study and offer tips to parents:
Were you surprised by your findings?
No, not really. I have heard stories over the years from mothers about how difficult it is to find child care centers that are supportive of breastfeeding. It is one of the reasons we did the study.
What questions can parents ask their child care provider to ensure they understand how to handle breast milk?
Parents should ask the child care provider if they have a breastfeeding policy, as well as:
Does the center have a refrigerator for storing human milk & how does it monitor the refrigerator?
How does the center warm the milk for feeding?
How does the center ensure that the right baby gets the right milk?
How does the center decide how much milk to feed a baby (to prevent waste)?
Should parents be concerned if their child care provider doesn't appear to be trained in breastfeeding support or handling breast milk?
YES! It is critical that child care providers know how to safely handle human milk.
What's the best way parents can educate child care providers about preparing and storing breast milk?
Provide them with resources like:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website on breastfeeding
Womenshealth.gov: Breastfeeding
What do you hope the study's findings will lead to?
I would like to see an increased awareness of this topic. I would also like to see nurses bring this topic up with families as they prepare to return to work. More research is warranted across the United States.
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