Across the UC Santa Cruz campuses, nursing mothers now have access to 21 lactation rooms where they can express milk and nurse their babies. The spaces on the residential, coastal, Scotts Valley, and Silicon Valley campuses, some new and others renovated, provide a safe, quiet, and relaxing space where they can maintain their lactation goals.
“Offering safe and hygienic lactation rooms across our campuses is a priority to support our nursing mothers and their infants,” Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Lori Kletzer said. “The spaces contribute to their well-being while they are engaged in their work and academic activities.”
Returning to work after having a baby is a time of readjustment for mothers.
"These rooms are primarily used by people who are just returning to work after parental leave," said Rebecca Jensen-Clem, associate professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics. "These are some of the first rooms they'll enter to keep taking care of their baby, which can be really emotional."
After having her first child, Jensen-Clem started looking into the spaces available to UC Santa Cruz nursing mothers, who may need to do several pumping sessions each day. While many faculty members have offices where they can pump, that isn't the case for others.
“Not everyone has a private office,” said Lindsey Dillion, associate professor of sociology and a member of the Faculty Mothers community network group. “Students, staff, researchers, and others might work in a communal space.”
The rooms are essential to staff who do not have their own offices and for students, especially undergraduates, who go from class to class, often in different areas of campus.
In the past, mothers have had to borrow offices or sit in bathroom stalls when pumping, sometimes without the ability to lock the door. It is important that they feel safe and not have to worry about being interrupted while pumping.
“You really need that sense of safety, comfort and cleanliness,” said Jensen-Clem. “ Stress and how you feel does play into how much milk that you make.”
Each lockable space is equipped with a chair, table, electrical outlet, paper towels, sanitizing wipes, and has or is close to a water source such as a sink. Some also have
mini-refrigerators to store milk and a microwave. They are available on a drop-in basis, no signup is required. Some rooms have restrictions due to the hours the buildings are open.
“Little things like art on the wall, a comfortable chair, a pillow that make it an inviting place at work also signal that your employer values the work you’re doing as a mother and member of the staff, and mothering becomes less invisible,” Dillion shared.
In the past, nursing mothers have had to bring the equipment they need to pump with them to work, including a heavy pump and attachments. Three of the spaces are now equipped with new hospital-grade electric pumps. The pumps are made for multiple use and have stronger suction strength and a powerful motor. They also help mothers get the maximum amount of milk production possible. The three pumps are located at the Coastal Campus in CBB 210, on Science Hill in Natural Sciences Building 2 - Lactation Room 403A, and in the Humanities Building lactation space. A priority project of Dean of the Humanities Jasmine Alinder, the new space in Room 228 of Humanities One was made possible thanks to donor funds, and in collaboration with Cassi Janakos (Porter ‘11).
Personal, reusable lactation pump kits that are used with the hospital-grade pumps are available at the Bay Tree Campus Store. To purchase one, contact the cashier at the checkout counter. Portable cooler bags to store milk are also available on loan through the ADA Office. To request a bag, contact the ADA Office at adaccess@ucsc.edu.
More information about the spaces and where to find them is available on the new Lactation Accommodations webpage. A map of the spaces can be found on the UC Santa Cruz maps website in the Health, Safety, and Facilities section. If there is not a location nearby, no more than a 10-minute walk away, mothers can reach out to the ADA Office at adaaccess@ucsc.edu to request that one be made available.
Questions about lactation accommodations can be sent to adaaccess@ucsc.edu.
Questions or concerns related to specific rooms should be sent to the building contact listed on the Lactation Accommodation webpage.
