Lactation Stations
Welcome to your breastfeeding-friendly college
Congratulations on your decision to feed your baby mother's milk! Your baby deserves
the
best possible start in life and mother's milk provides that!
BCTC recognizes the importance of breastfeeding for you and your baby and is a "Breastfeeding Friendly College". You can return to school and still provide your baby with the best possible source of nutrition -- mother's milk. Mother's milk provides your baby with the most nutritionally complete, easily digested, convenient, and economical source of nourishment. In addition, mother's milk has many health benefits for your baby including a reduction in the incidence and severity of ear infections, respiratory infections, gastrointestinal infections, and allergies.
Breastfeeding enhances the bond between you and your baby. Benefits for you, as the mother, include more time spent with the baby instead of preparing formula, less risk of premenopausal breast cancer, and more relaxation and stress relief due to hormones produced during lactation. Your decision to breastfeed your baby may provide lifetime benefits for you and your baby!
Participants in the BCTC Lactation Support Program are asked to follow the Participant
Guidelines outlined below.
If you have questions or concerns contact your personal
Lactation Consultant, the BCTC Certified Lactation Counselor, your family physician,
or other
community breastfeeding support groups.
Participant Guidelines
You can register to use any lactation room using the online Lactation Support Registration Form. Each campus has a sign-in location and key located near the lactation room. You will return the key, after each visit to the room.
The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services Breastfeeding site has information and links to various breast pump manufacturers and retailers, as well as information about your local La Leche League Leader, and Lactation Consultants for information regarding good quality pumps. Community WIC Programs have breastfeeding coordinators who can also help you with decisions about purchasing or renting a pump.
Your pumping equipment should be rinsed well after each use. It is recommended that
you rinse your pumping equipment first in cold water and then wash with hot soapy
water and rinsed well on a daily basis to avoid contamination.
Good hand washing before and after pumping is essential to prevent contamination of
your milk, your pumping equipment and the environment. Hand sanitizers are stocked
in each room.
If you do not have access to a refrigerator when on campus, an insulated cooler bag
with “blue ice” packs will keep your milk safe all day, and while transporting your
milk
from campus to home.
Each woman using the room is responsible for cleaning up after her use of the room.
Please ensure that you clean up any spills. Disinfectant wipes are available in each
room
for this purpose.
Signing in each time you use the room provides important information about room
usage and adequacy of each room. This log also demonstrates the importance of
providing this room for breastfeeding mothers.
Each room has a notebook available for women to write comments or suggestions.
There are also “Comment” slips at the sign-in area, which can be filled out and placed
in
the sign-in box. Please feel free to share your comments, suggestions, or concerns.
Campus Locations
| Campus | Room |
|---|---|
|
Cooper |
Oswald Building, Room 337C |
|
Danville |
Student Lounge Area, Room 109 |
|
Georgetown |
Room 213 |
|
Lawrenceburg |
Room 155, Cubicle #3 |
|
Leestown |
Building C, Room 111 |
|
Newtown |
Science Education Building, Room 206 The Den, Room 136 |
|
Winchester |
Child Development Center, Room 104F |
Additional Resources
Tips for Mothers Who Pump
- Frequency is the key. Plan unrestricted nursing throughout evenings, nights, weekends
and
days off. Milk production is based on supply and demand. Frequent breastfeeding when
you are with your baby and regular milk expression when away from your baby will help
maintain your supply. - Expect your baby to want to breastfeed more when you are together, to compensate for
time apart during the day. - Choose the expression method that best meets your needs. If you purchase a pump,
practice assembling and cleaning it. If you opt for hand-expression of your milk, learn the
technique well in advance of your return to work. Begin expressing and freezing milk about
two weeks prior to resuming your work routine. The assurance you gain will make it easier
for you to continue after you return to work. - Delay introducing a bottle until your baby has become expert at nursing and your milk
supply is well established, usually at about four to six weeks of age. About two weeks
before you return to work, have your baby’s caregiver offer your baby a bottle. Many
babies will refuse a bottle if their mother is nearby. Infants older than three months who
resist the notion of drinking a bottle might accept milk from a cup or a spoon.
- To build up a reserve milk supply, try expressing in the morning before your baby
breastfeeds, between feedings, or immediately after feedings. Many mothers get good
results by expressing milk from one breast while their baby nurses on the other.
- Rinse bottles and pump equipment in cold water first and then wash in the dishwasher
or hot soapy water dishwasher and rinse twice. Air-dry all parts on a clean towel.
- Store your milk in clean glass or plastic bottles. Avoid hard polycarbonate plastic,
which
contains Bisphenol A (BPA). BPA, a xenoestrogen, is an endocrine disruptor, meaning it
disturbs the hormonal messaging in our bodies. Plastic bottles made of softer, safer plastics
(polyethylene, polypropylene, or polyamide) are safe to use. Born Free, Gerber, Sassy, and
Medela make plastic baby bottles which are safe for babies. Discard worn bottles that are
cloudy or scratched. Chemicals leach into food when plastics break down. Don't heat
plastic bottles in the microwave, or wash them in the dishwasher, since heat degrades
plastic, releasing chemicals. - Save milk in quantities of 2, 3, and 4 ounces so your baby’s caregiver can choose
the
amount appropriate to your baby’s hunger or feeding pattern. Label each container of milk
with the date pumped and quantity. Use the oldest milk first. Add your name and your
baby's name to the label if your milk will be given to your baby in a childcare setting.
Include the date you are bringing the milk to the childcare setting on the label to indicate
when it is to be used. Leave fresh, rather than frozen, milk for your baby whenever
possible. - Use a separate container to store the milk each time you pump. You can later combine
cooled batches for a feeding or for frozen storage. You can add refrigerated milk to frozen
milk provided the amount you add is less than the amount already frozen
- Defrost frozen milk in the refrigerator, or use water "bath" to defrost.
- To defrost in the refrigerator, move the milk from the freezer to the refrigerator the night before it is needed.
- To defrost in the water "bath" put the bottle of frozen milk in a pan of warm (not hot) water or hold under warm tap water until thawed.
- After thawing, shake gently, or swirl, to mix and pour the portion for this feeding only, into the feeding bottle or cup. Refrigerate the remainder for the next feedings.
- Antibodies in breastmilk may survive freezing if the milk is properly stored, but cannot survive intense heating (microwave oven).
- Microwave heating causes “hot spots” in the milk that can burn the baby's mouth and throat. Never use a microwave to thaw or heat milk.
- Warm only enough milk for one feeding. Keep the remainder of the thawed milk refrigerated for use later on the same day. Thawed milk may be refrigerated 24 hours.
- DO NOT re-freeze milk that has been warmed and partially utilized for a particular feeding.
