Tag: breastfeeding

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Summer Travel, Breastfeeding, and the PUMP Act: What Nursing Parents Need to Know

Summer is a season of family vacations, road trips, beach days, and travel adventures. For breastfeeding parents returning to work after the birth of a baby, summer can also bring unique challenges as they balance maintaining their milk supply while navigating airports, hotels, conference centers, and temporary work assignments.

Fortunately, recent federal protections have made it easier for many breastfeeding employees to continue providing human milk for their babies. The Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers (PUMP) Act expanded workplace protections for lactating employees and has important implications for working parents who travel during the summer months.

What Is the PUMP Act?

The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, commonly known as the PUMP Act, was signed into law in December 2022. The law expanded existing federal protections for breastfeeding employees by requiring most employers to provide:

  • Reasonable break time to express milk during the workday
  • A private space that is shielded from view and free from intrusion
  • Protection for millions of workers who were previously excluded from federal lactation accommodation laws
  • The ability for employees to seek legal remedies if employers fail to comply

Before the PUMP Act, many salaried workers had protections under the Affordable Care Act, but millions of employees—including teachers, nurses, agricultural workers, transportation workers, and many others—were not fully covered. The PUMP Act significantly broadened coverage, helping more families meet their breastfeeding goals.

Why Summer Travel Can Be Challenging

Maintaining lactation while traveling presents logistical hurdles even for experienced breastfeeding parents. Common concerns include:

Changes in Routine

Breastfeeding and milk production often thrive on consistency. Travel may disrupt normal feeding schedules, pumping sessions, sleep patterns, and meal times.

Long Flights and Layovers

Air travel can mean extended periods away from a comfortable pumping space. Delayed flights, crowded terminals, and unpredictable schedules may make it difficult to pump as frequently as needed.

Conferences and Business Travel

Many parents travel for work during the summer months. Conferences, training sessions, and off-site meetings can create challenges when finding appropriate times and locations for milk expression.

Hydration and Heat

Summer temperatures can increase fluid needs and contribute to fatigue. While hydration does not directly increase milk production beyond normal physiological needs, adequate fluid intake helps support overall maternal health and comfort.

How the PUMP Act Helps Traveling Employees

One of the most important aspects of the PUMP Act is that workplace lactation protections do not disappear simply because an employee is traveling for work.

If an employee is attending a conference, working at a temporary site, or participating in employer-sponsored travel, the employer generally remains responsible for providing reasonable break time and an appropriate pumping space.

This means that employers should make reasonable efforts to ensure nursing employees have access to:

  • Private lactation spaces at conference venues
  • Appropriate break schedules
  • Time to express milk during long meetings
  • Accommodations during work-related travel

Many conference centers, airports, and convention facilities now offer dedicated lactation rooms, reflecting growing recognition of breastfeeding families’ needs.

Here is a link to an article that can help mothers find these pumping pods at airports.

Air Travel and Breast Milk

Parents often worry about flying with expressed milk. The good news is that breast milk, infant formula, and feeding supplies receive special consideration through airport security procedures.

When traveling:

  • Inform security officers that you are carrying breast milk.
  • Breast milk may be transported in quantities greater than standard liquid limits.
  • Ice packs, freezer packs, and gel packs used to cool milk are generally permitted.
  • Review current transportation guidelines before travel, as procedures can change.

Many airports now provide lactation pods or nursing suites that offer private spaces for pumping or breastfeeding.

Tips for Protecting Your Milk Supply While Traveling

Plan Ahead

Before traveling, identify:

  • Airport lactation rooms
  • Hotel refrigeration options
  • Conference lactation facilities
  • Nearby locations where pumping can occur if needed

Maintain Your Pumping Schedule

Milk production operates on supply and demand. Attempting to maintain a schedule similar to your normal routine can help prevent discomfort and protect milk production.

Pack Extra Supplies

Consider bringing:

  • Extra pump parts
  • Additional milk storage bags
  • Cleaning supplies
  • Portable battery packs
  • Backup manual pumps

Unexpected travel delays are common during summer vacation season.

Learn to Hand Express (if you don’t already know)

This is another great reason to be sure you know how to hand express your milk. You can find information on hand expressing here.

Hand expression has no parts to pack and can be an easier way to maintain your expression schedule while traveling.

Know Your Rights

Employees should familiarize themselves with workplace lactation protections before traveling. Having a conversation with supervisors or human resources departments ahead of time can prevent misunderstandings and ensure appropriate accommodations are available.

Breastfeeding-Friendly Travel Benefits Everyone

Supporting breastfeeding employees is not simply a legal obligation—it is also good for families and workplaces. Research consistently demonstrates that breastfeeding is associated with improved maternal and infant health outcomes. When employees receive adequate lactation support, they often experience greater job satisfaction and are more likely to remain in the workforce.

The PUMP Act represents an important step toward recognizing that breastfeeding and employment can coexist successfully. As more workplaces, airports, hotels, and conference centers adopt lactation-friendly practices, traveling while breastfeeding becomes increasingly manageable.

Looking Ahead

Summer travel should be an opportunity for connection, professional growth, and family memories—not a source of anxiety about maintaining milk production. The protections established by the PUMP Act help ensure that nursing parents do not have to choose between their careers and their breastfeeding goals.

Whether you’re heading to a family reunion, attending a professional conference, or embarking on a summer vacation, preparation, knowledge of your rights, and access to supportive accommodations can help make the journey smoother.

Breastfeeding parents deserve the time, space, and support necessary to continue providing human milk for their babies and to continue their journies along the Milky Way—at home, at work, and wherever summer adventures may lead.

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April is Stress Awareness Month

 

How Breastfeeding Helps Reduce Maternal Stress: The Biology of Calm

Did you know that April is Stress Awareness month? I didn’t either! So, let’s spend a little time talking about maternal stress and the ways breastfeeding can help reduce a mother’s feelings of stress and anxiety.

In the early days of motherhood, stress can feel like a constant companion. Between physical recovery, sleep disruption, and the demands of caring for a newborn, many mothers find themselves navigating a profound emotional transition. Yet within this intensity lies a powerful, built-in mechanism for calming the maternal body: breastfeeding.

Far from being just a method of infant feeding, breastfeeding is a neurobiological process that actively supports maternal stress reduction. Through hormonal pathways, physical contact, and emotional connection, breastfeeding can help mothers regulate stress and promote a sense of calm and well-being.

The Hormonal Foundation of Calm

At the heart of breastfeeding’s stress-reducing effects is oxytocin, often called the “love hormone.”

During breastfeeding, oxytocin is released in pulses in response to nipple stimulation and infant contact. This hormone has several profound effects:

  • Promotes the milk ejection (let-down) reflex
  • Lowers levels of stress hormones like cortisol
  • Reduces blood pressure and heart rate
  • Enhances feelings of relaxation and emotional bonding

Oxytocin doesn’t just support feeding—it actively shifts the maternal nervous system away from a stress response and toward a state of calm.

Another key hormone, prolactin, contributes to feelings of relaxation and caregiving behavior. Elevated during breastfeeding, prolactin has been associated with reduced anxiety and increased maternal responsiveness.

Breastfeeding and the Stress Response System

The body’s stress system—known as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis—is designed to respond to threats by releasing cortisol and adrenaline. While this system is essential for survival, chronic activation can be harmful.

Breastfeeding helps modulate this system in several ways:

  • Blunted cortisol response: Breastfeeding mothers often show a reduced cortisol response to stressors compared to non-breastfeeding mothers.
  • Faster recovery from stress: After a stressful event, breastfeeding can help the body return to baseline more quickly.
  • Improved emotional regulation: Hormonal changes during lactation support resilience and coping.

This means that breastfeeding doesn’t just feel calming—it measurably changes how the body experiences and processes stress.

The Power of Physical Contact

Breastfeeding inherently involves close, sustained physical contact between mother and baby. This contact is a powerful regulator of the nervous system.

  • Skin-to-skin contact enhances oxytocin release
  • Infant warmth and rhythmic sucking promote relaxation
  • Physical closeness reduces maternal anxiety

This type of contact activates the parasympathetic nervous system, often referred to as the “rest and digest” system, which counteracts the stress-driven “fight or flight” response.

Emotional Benefits: Connection and Confidence

Stress is not only physiological—it is deeply emotional. Breastfeeding can support maternal mental health by fostering:

  • A sense of competence: Successfully feeding and soothing a baby builds confidence
  • Emotional bonding: Close interaction strengthens the mother-infant relationship
  • Attunement: Mothers learn to read and respond to their baby’s cues

These experiences can reduce feelings of overwhelm and help mothers feel more grounded in their new role.

Breastfeeding as a Mindfulness Practice

Interestingly, breastfeeding can function similarly to mindfulness or meditation.

During a feeding session, mothers often:

  • Sit or lie still
  • Focus on their baby
  • Engage in repetitive, rhythmic patterns (suck-swallow-breathe)

This creates an opportunity to slow down, breathe deeply, and be present—conditions known to reduce stress and improve emotional regulation.

Long-Term Stress Protection

The stress-reducing effects of breastfeeding may extend beyond individual feeding sessions.

Research suggests that breastfeeding mothers may experience:

  • Lower rates of postpartum depression and anxiety
  • Improved stress resilience over time
  • Enhanced sleep-related hormonal regulation (despite frequent waking)

While breastfeeding is not a guarantee against mental health challenges, it can be a protective factor when combined with adequate support.

When Breastfeeding Feels Stressful

It is important to acknowledge that breastfeeding does not automatically reduce stress for every mother. Pain, latch difficulties, concerns about milk supply, or lack of support can turn feeding into a source of anxiety.

In these situations, the stress-reducing benefits of breastfeeding may be diminished—not because breastfeeding itself is harmful, but because the conditions surrounding it are challenging.

Support is key:

  • Skilled lactation care
  • Emotional reassurance
  • Practical help at home

When barriers are addressed, many mothers are able to experience the calming effects breastfeeding can offer.

A Biological Design for Mutual Regulation

Breastfeeding is not just about nourishing a baby—it is a system of co-regulation, where mother and infant help stabilize each other.

As the baby feeds:

  • The infant becomes calmer and more regulated
  • The mother’s body releases calming hormones
  • Both participants experience reduced stress

This reciprocal relationship is one of the most elegant aspects of human biology.

Conclusion: Breastfeeding as a Tool for Maternal Well-Being

In a world where new mothers are often overwhelmed and under-supported, breastfeeding offers something remarkable: a built-in pathway to calm.

Through hormonal shifts, physical closeness, and emotional connection, breastfeeding helps regulate the maternal stress response and promote well-being. When mothers are supported in their breastfeeding journey, they are not only feeding their babies—they are also nurturing their own mental and emotional health.

Supporting breastfeeding, therefore, is not just about infant nutrition. It is about creating conditions where mothers can feel calmer, more connected, and more resilient in one of life’s most transformative seasons.

 

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Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and Breastfeeding

Did you know that September is Childhood Obesity Awareness Month? According to the CDC, childhood obesity is a complex disease with many contributing factors, including genetics, eating patterns, physical activity levels, and sleep routines. Compared to children with healthy weight, children with obesity are at a higher risk for asthma, sleep apnea, bone and joint problems, type 2 diabetes, and other health issues. Although there is no one solution, there are many ways parents and caregivers can help children have a healthy weight and set up lifelong healthy habits.

If you look at the CDC website here, you can see that they outline 5 ways that families can help reduce the risk of obesity.

  1. Model a healthy Eating pattern
  2. Move more as a family
  3. Set consistent sleep routines
  4. Replace screen time with family time
  5. Support obesity prevention in Early Care and Education
  6. Find a Family Healthy Weight Program

There is ample research that shows exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and breastfeeding for a year or more is inversely and significantly associated with obesity and percentage of body fat for children.  Despite this clear indicator of a way to prevent childhood obesity, it is only mentioned in a cursory fashion in the fifth suggestion on the CDC website. Under suggestion number five they state “Look for ECE settings supporting healthy infant feeding, healthy eating, physical activity, and screen time limits. When looking for ECE programs for your child, ask about policies and practices related to breastfeeding and feeding breast milk to infants, nutrition standards for the food served, access to outdoor physical activity during the day, and how much time the child will spend daily in front of a screen.”

This would be an excellent month to highlight this benefit to breastfeeding in your workplace or community. The benefits to breastfeeding are often lumped into laundry lists. For example, we often hear that breastfeeding helps decrease the chance of ear infections, increases a child’s IQ, and reduces the risk of obesity. But let’s take this month, this moment to really highlight the obesity piece. Maybe if we focus on just one thing, the message will be clearer and heard more easily. What do you think? How can you highlight this specific benefit of breastfeeding during this awareness month?

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Modifiable behaviors to improve breastfeeding

We all know breastfeeding is critical for both mothers and babies. Most of us are supporters, advocates, counselors, mothers, grandmothers and just generally breastfeeding cheerleaders! We want to help and sometimes it can be hard to know how to help. In a groundbreaking new article, nine unique elements have been identified as modifiable behaviors that can increase breastfeeding success. We always knew there were things we could do! Now we have clear definitions of what those things are. Truly incredible!

The article was recently published in Acta Paediatrica and you can find it here.  The research was an observational study conducted in Masaka, Uganda. It looks at 300 newborns in the postpartum unit as well as 166 infants attending the 6-week postpartum clinic. The research team utilized the Lactation Assessment & Comprehensive Intervention Tool (LAT). A tool chosen because it did not aggregate assessment items and has been validated.

What the research found was that there are nine elements that were significantly related to effective breastfeeding: the infant state and feeding cues pre-feeding, four postitioning elements including tummy-to-mummy, infants arms around the mothers breast, the breast not being held or shaped, and the baby’s head being free of restriction, and three latching elements which include the gape, the baby’s head tilt, and the baby’s lower lip reaching the breast first.

I was delighted to speak briefly with Dr. Anna Blair, the lead author on this remarkable paper to ask her few questions on the research and the findings.

Q: What would you say are the key takeaways from the research?

Dr. Blair: There are certain predicable, easily explained things that parents can do to help their baby breastfeeding effectively, before the baby even touches the breast. We found that having the baby tummy to mummy, for example, really matters. It’s best not to hold the breast. Watch that the head is free of restrictions. There’s been a lot of focus on assessing infants already at the breast, but the pre-feeding behaviors and attaching matter.

Q: Was there anything in the results that surprised you?

Dr Blair:  Many of these elements we’ve believed for years – written about in numerous texts by experts – but now we have clear findings from research.

I think it was interesting that the baby’s head being free of restrictions mattered more with the infants in post partum than at the 6 week checkup.

Breasts being held have become such a common practice and this research shows it is negatively associated with effective breastfeeding. I was not surprised by that because there has been some previous research on breast shaping having a negative impact on breastfeeding. But look at the images of people breastfeeding and the instructions from hospitals – they largely include breast holding and shaping , which is so unfortunate.

Q: What has you excited about this research?

Dr. Blair: What we found in this study has easy to follow, straightforward ways to improve breastfeeding effectiveness and feeding and I think that is very exciting.

I hope the article sparks as much excitement for you as it did for me and for the research team.  I also hope it sparks lots of conversations in your communities and workplaces around these specific, modifiable behaviors and how it might change our practice and the way we help moms and babies.

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Just the Beginning: An Early Stage Career Interview

I thought it might be interesting to speak with folks working in the field of lactation who are all at different points in their careers; someone in the beginning, middle and end of their careers. I was curious to hear their thoughts on the work and if there were any similarities at different stages of the path.

 

The first person I spoke with is Calliope. They are in the very beginning of their career. Calliope became a doula and a CLC in 2022. They have attended four births.  They are primarily a birth doula but have had a few post-partum clients. However, since they are a CLC they say they stay on longer than maybe some other doulas might. They consider themselves a full spectrum doula. While they do not do doula work full time, they try to do it as much as their schedule allows.

What is the process like for you as you are helping these birthing people?

I love taking a doula client any time I can. This most recent one was extra special because she was a friend so we had a jump start on all of the “getting to know you” stuff. But also, it was a totally different challenge to get to know someone in this other way from what our relationship had been up to this point. But the thing I am struck by every time I do it is how do people do this without support? And like beyond that, how am I supposed to ask someone to pay me for this? If you want it, it should just be free flowing from the tap.

And then I am also really amazed and I learn a lot every time. I learn about how different people want to be interacted with both in a doula client relationship and just in life. I get a lot of good practice listening to people. I think it is also really important to be living in a community of support so that if I need a net, hopefully someone will be there to catch me. I think that is quite beautiful.

 

If you could change something in the healthcare system around birth and caring for mothers, what would you like to see?

I think more midwives would be really helpful. No shade to OB’s but I have noticed that sometimes doctors don’t really have the time to sit with a mother and help through what can be a stressful time. It feels a little like we are doing emotional clean-up from that lack of care. Especially first-time parents in a high-risk pregnancy which has been the clients I have had so far. Also, lower cost of care across the board.

Tell me about your work in Texas

I worked through an organization called GALS in Austin, which stands for Giving Austin Labor Support. They are an amazing organization! They pair every birthing person who walks into the hospital with a free doula. The client never pays anything, its state funded so I was paid through the state not from the parents. And I think more programs like that, all over would be amazing.

How do you think that could happen?

I don’t know. But my friend Juju, who is also a doula, and I are making grand plans for someday in the future to start one of here in New York. The success rates at GALS were amazing and they also provided lots of outside support with prisons which I thought was very cool.

When you say success rates, what does that mean to you?

When I think of success rates as a doula I’m talking ideally of a healthy everyone at the end. And luckily for everyone so far that has been my experience. And for the client, I think success is a sense of satisfaction on their part and a job well done. For the birthing person, that this event that is so personal and can really feel isolating is actually a massive empowering success. Empowering is a weird word but the idea that they feel really proud of themselves and they see themselves as incredibly capable.

And tell me about breastfeeding. How has it been helping these folks with breastfeeding?

That has also been great! All four of my clients have been able to exclusively breastfeed. For some of them, I didn’t keep up with after six months but they were all planning on nursing until either they or the baby were done. One of the families I worked with had three kids under five and then the father broke both his wrists so I stayed on a long time with them. I think I stayed for three months. That mother had breastfed all of her kids and had only just recently weaned the eldest. She found breastfeeding to be a huge way to bond with her kids. All of my clients so far have all really wanted to breastfeed and didn’t need much education on the benefits. So, they were all eager to troubleshoot if something wasn’t right. Like the latch or oversupply. Oversupply is the thing that I’ve come across most, which is interesting.

Why do you think breastfeeding was so successful for the folks you’ve helped?

I think for all four of them it was something that they were excited to do and I think that helps tremendously. For two of my clients it was the first baby. And for two it was the second or third and they had varying rates of success the first times around. I think for them it was about getting some external validation that they were doing a good job. Just someone telling them that is really important.

Validation is so important.

Yes. And skin to skin! They were all skin to skin for I think the entire first week! As much time spent skin to skin is key! My third client had a really rough road starting breastfeeding with her previous birth and we talked a lot about spending as much time as possible skin to skin and how helpful it is.

I also make it my practice to make sure we get a good latch before I leave on that first day. I also like to point out feeding cues and particularly rooting. I like to include the partner in this too. It gives them a little game to play, to look for the cues!

What are your goals for the future with regards to birth and breastfeeding work?

I am actually thinking about midwifery school. But I’m on the fence because it seems like you don’t really get as much time with a client and I think that’s the part that I love the most. But I definitely want to keep this work as part of my life. Especially as my friends have kids, I want to be able to support them.

Any other thoughts on the work in the birthing and breastfeeding space?

Yes, I feel very lucky that I know that if I had a scenario with a client as a CLC and I needed more support, like I needed help troubleshooting, I would have you all to call. I think in general, the birth work world could use a bit more community support. I know a lot of doulas and we all think that more community support for the practitioner would be awesome.

Next week, I’ll speak with someone in the middle stages of their career. Let’s see if there are similarities! Have a great week, and may all your ways be milky ways!

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