Free WiFi and nursing rooms—those seem to be the current hot-button amenities for public places to offer. What about your salon? Do new moms on the salon team have a comfortable place to nurse or pump? What breastfeeding experiences have you had that influence your willingness to accommodate clients who cart along infants or who want to nurse during, say, a color process?
The first week of August was International Breastfeeding Week, and in the U.S. all of August is National Breastfeeding Month, so it’s a good time to review the milky landscape! Nearly 80 percent of American new mothers have breastfed at some point, according to the latest Breastfeeding Report Card issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Teasing out the difference between using breast milk exclusively and using it in conjunction with other food or milk, the poll finds that, while 49 percent were still nursing their six-month-olds, only 19 percent were exclusively breastfeeding at that age. Still, nearly 27 percent of moms were doing some nursing at the baby’s first birthday.
These rates vary by state, ranging from 59 percent of Louisiana mothers to 87 percent of Alaska moms having ever breastfed a baby. Could be the cold? In general, the Northeast, California and the Pacific Northwest had the highest rates.
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