Johns Hopkins Gazette: August 7, 1995


On Services: Nursing Mothers Find Privacy and Resources Nearby
Wyman Park Is Latest Location For Mothers' Room


     Nursing mothers who work on the Homewood campus now have a
convenient and private place to pump their breast milk for later
feedings, thanks to an initiative sponsored in part by the
Wellness Clinic of the Office of Occupational Health and Safety.

     The Mothers' Room--located on the sixth floor of the Wyman
Park building--joins two similar spaces previously established on
the East Baltimore campus. Free and available for all Hopkins
female staff and faculty, the rooms offer hospital-grade electric
breast pumps, which accommodate double-pump arrangements to
facilitate speedy pumping. 

     According to Judy Vogelhut, nurse coordinator of the Hopkins
Breastfeeding Center and one of the original advocates of the
Mothers' Room concept at Hopkins, the pumps allow most lactating
women to spend about 15 minutes either once or twice daily,
obtaining milk that is then refrigerated or frozen until needed.

     "What we had prior to this was a group of women who wanted
and needed to come back to work, but who were put in a position
of having to choose between that and supplying their children
with milk," she said. "However, human milk can be refrigerated
for up to 48 hours and frozen for up to three months. Having a
Mothers' Room allows many women to both work and breastfeed their
baby."

     The Johns Hopkins Breastfeeding Center established and now
maintains the first Hopkins Mothers' Room, located on the third
floor of the Blalock Building on the East Baltimore campus. That
room--gaily festooned with dozens of photographs of the children
whose mothers use the facility--has been used by more than 100
mothers since it opened four years ago, Vogelhut said. A second
room opened recently in the basement of the School of Public
Health.

      "The rooms are more than a place for privacy, they've
become a resource for our mothers," Vogelhut said. "Each room has
a communications book where people leave messages for each other,
and in East Baltimore, they have had an annual Christmas party
and monthly luncheon meetings at the back table of the hospital's
cafeteria." 

    The nursing mothers have nicknamed the informal monthly
get-togethers the Bosom Buddies' Lunch.

      Mothers on the East Baltimore campus can find information
about the Mothers' Room by calling (410) 550-5471. On the
Homewood campus, call (410) 516-0451.

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