Institutional Employee Lactation Support: Advocating for Improved Breastfeeding Support Amongst Physicians and Residents in Training

Background: The personal breastfeeding experience a pediatrician faces, not only impacts their own family but also can impact their ability to counsel families.  At Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, a 354-bed free standing children’s hospital, a faculty survey revealed concerns regarding the lack of policy to support a positive environment and options for women faculty who were breastfeeding.  At our institution, there are a total of 767 medical staff members who are CMH exclusively employed or contracted.  Of those, 426 are women of which 188 (30.6%) are …