When a new mother returns to Starbucks’ corporate headquarters in Seattle after maternity leave, she learns what is behind the doors mysteriously marked “Lactation Room.”
Whenever she likes, she can slip away from her desk and behind those doors, sit in a plush recliner and behind curtains, and leaf through InStyle magazine as she holds a company-supplied pump to her chest, depositing her breast milk in bottles to be toted home later.
But if the mothers who staff the chain’s counters want to do the same, they must barricade themselves in small restrooms intended for customers, counting the minutes left in their breaks.
“Breast milk is supposed to be the best milk, I read it constantly when I was pregnant,” said Brittany Moore, who works at a Starbucks in Manhattan and feeds her 9-month old daughter formula. “I felt bad, I want the best for my child,” she said. “None of the moms here that I know actually breast-feed.”
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This may be news to the New York Times and its readers, but it sure isn't to those of us living in the real world. Nevertheless, I am glad to see the issue's profile being raised. (And by the way, if you think this is the only 'two-tiered issue' on the table, you need to think again. Let's talk about health care and child care just for starters.)
This country needs to stop handing out unrealistic advice to new parents and start providing them with actual support. ~ Ali
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