Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams announced Thursday that Borough Hall will provide a room for women to breastfeed their babies.
It’s part of an initiative called Family Friendly Brooklyn. An earlier component included the distribution of cribs and play yards to needy families. The current proposal focuses on expanding breastfeeding zones and conducting maternal postpartum depression screenings.
Borough President Eric Adams says a comfortable and accessible lactation room will be designated for public use — it would be the only city agency providing a community breastfeeding room. “It is our goal to create an environment, where we can raise healthy children and families, that includes having a lactation room here at Borough Hall,” he said.
Experts say breastfeeding rates are lower in Brownsville, Bedford-Stuyvesant and other neighborhoods that are at or below the poverty line. With about 200,000 children under the age of 5 living in Brooklyn, advocates are looking to improve the breastfeeding rate as well as babies’ health. That figure is higher than the state average.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breastfeeding has been shown to reduce the likelihood of Type 2 diabetes and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) among others.
The initiative also recommends full funding of the maternal postpartum depression screening bill in the New York State Legislature. Up to 20 percent of women experience postpartum depression and half of them struggle with it during pregnancy.
Paige Bellenbaum, Female District Leader of the 52nd Assembly District, recounts her lowest point. “One day, I was pushing my son in a stroller and a bus was coming towards us and I really thought about throwing us both in front of it. And I knew at that moment I needed help,” she said.
In partnership with a nonprofit organization, Adams will be offering maternal depression screening trainings and referral workshops for doctors to better assess their patients.
The planned opening date for Borough Hall’s breastfeeding space is this Mother's Day.
With reports from the Associated Press.