Path smoother for breast-feeding moms (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Julie Maness, who twice returned to work while she was breast-feeding, has seen both the good and the bad when it comes to pumping breast milk on the job. The 38-year-old mother of two from Cahokia remembers pumping in a restroom stall following the birth of her older daughter, Molly, now 11.

"It was basically a carpeted warehouse," Maness says. "The bathroom was the best I could do there, so I would take my equipment into a stall and try to pump there and try not to touch anything."

In spite of those conditions, Maness pumped and nursed until Molly was more than 10 months old.

Circumstances were much better after the birth of Cordelia, now 5. Maness had taken a job at Fleishman-Hillard, where she still works as coordinator of accounts receivable. There was no lactation room or official policy for nursing moms, but her supervisors and employer were very supportive, even before her maternity leave.

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