I overheard something today at my local YMCA that made me feel there's 
hope here in the United States that breastfeeding really will begin to 
be seen as the normal way to feed babies...

I was sitting poolside just beind the lifeguard stand nursing my toddler 
(as I do there several times a week without anyone so much as raising an 
eyebrow) as my older two children played in the pool. The teenage female 
guard in the chair called loudly across the pool to another teenage 
female guard asking where the aquatics director was. "Is B- in her 
office." The reply, "No. She went to pump." It was stated matter of 
factly and received the same way. A few minutes later, a teenage male 
guard came out to relieve the guard in the chair. He also informed the 
guard coming out of the chair that the aquatics director had gone to 
pump as he listed the location of the on-duty guards. How pleasant it 
was to see these young people discussing the fact that their boss was 
pumping her breastmilk as if it were just something someone does as a 
matter of course when they return to work after having a baby. I'm so 
glad the aquatics director is being so open about pumping. Her staff is 
very young. Hopefully they'll internalize the message that breastfeeding 
and/or pumping is the normal thing to do. The baby in question is 7 
weeks old and mom just returned to work last week. She's pumping b/c 
sadly the Y said no to her baby staying on site in the short-term 
baby-sitting room since baby would be there more than 2 hours in a row. 
Mom told me she really wishes she could just go nurse the baby instead 
of pumping, but the daycare center is too far away.

Karen Meade
LLL Leader
Suburban Philadelphia, PA, USA

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