DHSS Press Release

WOMEN, INFANT AND CHILDREN PROGRAM TO DEDICATE BREASTFEEDING ROOM AT BLUE HEN CORPORATE CENTER AUG. 5

A breastfeeding room for nursing mothers will be dedicated Aug. 5 at noon at the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) office at the Blue Hen Corporate Center, 655 Bay Rd., in Dover. Maureen E. Dempsey, MD, director of Delaware's Division of Public Health (DPH), will speak.

The attractive, private breastfeeding room contains a comfortable rocking chair, a refrigerator for storing expressed breastmilk, a small table, and some wall toys to occupy young children whom might accompany their mother. It is one of five such rooms WIC established to encourage nursing mothers to continue breastfeeding after returning to work. Other breastfeeding rooms are located at DPH clinics in the Northeast and Porter State Service Centers in Wilmington, at the Middletown Health Unit, and at the Lewes Public Health Center. Any nursing mother - not solely state employees or clinic visitors - can use these breastfeeding rooms weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Sixty percent of Delaware mothers are breastfeeding their newborns when they are discharged from the hospital, compared to the national average of 69.5 percent, Ross Laboratories reported in 2001. Yet too many mothers discontinue breastfeeding when they return to the workforce due to a lack of workplace support, lack of access to quiet, private areas to express, and difficulties associated with storage and transportation of breastmilk.

The benefits of breastfeeding are both immediate and long term through improved, balanced nutrition and fewer illnesses such as middle ear and urinary tract infections, gastroenteritis and respiratory illnesses. Children and adults who were not breastfed are at increased risk for heart disease, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, asthma and allergies.

The breastfeeding rooms and accompanying advertising promoting breastfeeding were funded by an $85,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Delaware Health and Social Services is committed to improving the quality of the lives of Delaware's citizens by promoting health and well-being, fostering self-sufficiency, and protecting vulnerable populations.