Take the Pledge
Breastfeeding Welcomed Here
The Breastfeeding Welcomed Here campaign was created to encourage more women to breastfeed their babies and to breastfeed for a longer duration by making their communities more breastfeeding friendly. The use of this logo alerts moms to public locations where they may breastfeed comfortably, while encouraging the perception that breastfeeding is normal, accepted and welcomed throughout Nevada.
According to the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding, a woman’s ability to initiate and sustain breastfeeding is influenced by a host of factors, including the community in which she lives. The extent to which the community supports or discourages breastfeeding can be crucial to a mother’s breastfeeding success. If breastfeeding is embraced as a normal way to feed infants, more women will breastfeed, improving the health of mothers and infants for the better at present and for the long-term.
Breastfeeding Welcomed Here Pledge
Breastfeeding persons or people need all the support they can get. By taking the Breastfeeding Welcomed Here pledge, you agree to provide an environment where breastfeeding mothers are able to sit anywhere and enjoy a welcoming attitude from staff, management and other patrons while breastfeeding.
Become a Supporter
The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services partners with community partners to recognize businesses which support breastfeeding families through the Breastfeeding Welcomed Here campaign. Nevada Revised Statute (N.R.S) 201.232 authorizes women to breastfeed in public, anywhere they are otherwise authorized to be. However, some businesses and employees may be unaware of this law, resulting in difficult situations for a mother when feeding their child. The Breastfeeding Welcomed Here campaign aims for businesses to demonstrate their support of breastfeeding persons by making a pledge to support breastfeeding people at their establishment and advertise this commitment by displaying the Breastfeeding Welcomed Here logo visibly at their places of business.
FAQs – Breastfeeding Welcomed Here
Many mothers are afraid to breastfeed in public because of stigma or lack of societal support. The issue is big enough to keep mothers from breastfeeding at all, or to end their breastfeeding relationship before the infant reaches 6 month of age, the minimum guidelines suggested by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Women who breastfeed have a lower risk of getting breast, uterine, and ovarian cancers. Breastfed babies have a lower risk of diarrhea, respiratory tract infections, ear infections, urinary tract infections, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, lymphoma, leukemia, and Hodgkin’s disease, and childhood overweight and obesity. Preterm infants have a decreased risk of developing necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and late-onset sepsis.
Bathrooms are unsanitary places to feed an infant, and covering a infant implies mother and baby are engaging in a shameful or distasteful act. In addition, it poses a barrier to infant feeding. Remember, a mother may breastfeeding anywhere she is otherwise authorized to be according to N.R.S. 201.232 in Nevada.
Breastfeeding is a complex relationship which can be disrupted by offering baby a bottle instead of bringing them to feed at the breast. Babies often eat on an irregular schedule and it is also important to feed the baby on demand. Mothers should be able to breastfeed their infant, wherever and whenever it is convenient for both of them.
Breastfeeding mothers may breastfeed anywhere they are otherwise authorized to be in Nevada according to N.R.S. 201.232. If a mothers’ breastfeeding offends someone, the individual may ignore it, turn away, ask to be moved somewhere else or leave the area. Nursing mothers are protected under Nevada law to breastfeed in public wherever they are authorized to be, and are not responsible for another person’s discomfort with breastfeeding. Please treat breastfeeding mothers with kindness and respect.
Yes-People don’t realize how often babies are breastfed in public because mothers and babies are so skilled at it, it often doesn’t register with others when it is taking place.
“I can understand why you’re feeling uncomfortable. However, I am legally able to breastfeed in public according to Nevada law.”
Breastfeeding Friendly Businesses
The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services recognizes the importance of supporting a breastfeeding friendly community by encouraging businesses to support breastfeeding mothers. A number of businesses in Nevada have taken important steps to support breastfeeding mothers, and have taken the Breastfeeding Welcomed Here pledge.