For those of us who have others care for our breastfed children, whether it’s at a child care center or at grandma’s house, it’s important that our care providers understand how to support breastfeeding.
Child care providers need to know many things, from how to handle (and conserve!) breastmilk, to how to make the environment welcoming for nursing moms at pick up time. Support for breastfeeding in child care centers is important enough that even First Lady Michelle Obama has promoted it!
Fortunately, there are a number of resources online to help inform our care providers. Here are some worth sharing.
Practical information for parents:
- Kellymom.com offers practical advice for parents and links to resources for providers.
- La Leche League International has a page on preparing child care providers to care for a breastfeeding baby.
- Dr. Sears offers some practical advice on working with caregivers.
- Workandpump.com offers answers to the common question, “how much milk should I send to day care?”
- The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine offers milk storage guidelines.
Resources to share with your child care provider:
- The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has an outstanding free resource kit for child care providers called “Ten Steps to Breastfeeding Friendly Child Care.”
- The Louisiana Breastfeeding Coalition offers a sample breastfeeding policy for child care centers, based on the Wisconsin resource kit.
- The New York State Department of Health has resources for child care providers, including a self assessment tool to help them determine how breastfeeding-friendly they are. They have a “breastfeeding friendly day care” certification program and list them by county.
- The Texas WIC program offers a set of training tools for child care providers.
- The Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute has a poster child care providers can post explaining how they support nursing moms and children.
