Nursing

Nursing moms have a new reason to celebrate. In a surprising about-face, Walmart has gone from refusing to print a photo of mom Kayla Andre breastfeeding, to allowing her to host a nurse-in demonstration in its Alberta, Canada, store.

Earlier in May, Andre's husband headed to Walmart to print out a photo of his wife nursing their young son as a Mother's Day gift. To his chagrin, the store refused to print the breastfeeding image, saying it violated the mass chain's anti-nudity policy, the Huffington Post reports.

Andre was shocked and protested to local media that the image should have been printed, saying it's a natural occurrence — despite debates over breastfeeding in public. So she organized a "nurse-in" to be held in the store, to protest the store's decision in shaming her for breastfeeding.

Walmart quickly recognized the flaw in its action, however. It apologized and clarified the store's policy for employees so that they would know breastfeeding photos are acceptable. So Andre quickly turned her protests into praise, and re-dubbed her nurse-in as "a celebration of the fact that Walmart recognized its mistake."

Andre applauded the store for being "a reasonable company who listens to their customers," and noted the chain offered gift certificates for photo printing to nurse-in participants. "They have clarified their policy, and that is something to celebrate!" she says.

Would you protest or participate in a breastfeeding event at Walmart?

Traveling while breastfeeding doesn't have be an impossible combination. Though nursing while flying may be a bit tricky, mamas who must travel without their tots don't have to worry about lugging a pump with them when traveling to Chicago anymore. In what appears to be the first program of its kind, Hard Rock Hotel Chicago and Medela launched the Nursing Mothers Amenity Program yesterday. For $30, participants in the program will receive a hospital-grade Symphony breastpump and a breastfeeding Accessory Starter Set, which includes Medela's Micro Steam Bags, Quick Clean Wipes, Pump and Save Bags, and disposable bra pads when they check into the hotel. The program also provides nursing moms with in-room refrigerators, microwaves, ice packs, cooler bags for transporting the milk, and staff trained to support nursing moms with services like FedExing milk back home.

Nursing moms isn't necessarily the first thing I thought of when I heard Hard Rock Hotel — images of Michael Jackson's leather jackets and autographed guitars were the first thing that came to mind — but it may be time to switch up my thinking. The Nursing Mothers Amenity Program, which will donate the proceeds of the fee to benefit local families with children in Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago through The Jackson Chance Foundation, may be the nursing working mom's new best friend! What do you think?

Here's a post from our partners at BabyCenter! Every week, we bring you the best parenting and lifestyle stories from the experts at BabyCenter, including this post about fixing breastfeeding problems.

"We just give women a pat on the head and tell them their kids will be fine," if they don't breastfeed, says Dr. Alison Stuebe, an OB who treats breast-feeding problems in North Carolina. "Can you imagine if we did that to men with erectile dysfunction?"

This question is one of many valid questions posed in this Time article, which takes a close look at how doctors treat, and fail to treat, women with breastfeeding problems.

Related: Is sushi safe while pregnant?

Why is it that we're so willing to see problems such as erectile dysfunction as medically based and medically treatable, but, when it comes to breastfeeding, the failure of a woman to adequately feed her baby is rarely seen as a valid medical issue?

If a man can't get an erection, doctors don't tell him he's not trying hard enough. They give him a physical and often a prescription. Yet, too often, when a woman can't breastfeed, her problems are viewed as a problem that can be solved by moral support, technique coaching or a human milk substitute in powder form.

The reason for this, Dr. Stuebe surmises, lies in the fact that relatively few doctors are trained in human lactation. Stuebe attributes this to culture. Today's medical school teachers, the so-called experts, were trained in a time when breastfeeding was not popular.

And where physicians fall short, lactation consultants try to pick up the slack. But lactation consultants often do so from the perspective that any woman with the right intentions can breastfeed. Possible medical reasons behind breastfeeding problems are rarely considered.

Keep reading to see what doctors are doing.

Here's a post from our partners at BabyCenter! Every week, we bring you the best parenting and lifestyle stories from the experts at BabyCenter, including this post from Betsy Shaw about the NYC mayor's plan to promote breastfeeding.

As part of his push toward improved public health, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg has shifted his focus from soft drinks to infant formula.

According to The New York Post, as of September, New York City hospitals taking part in a restrictive pro-breastfeeding program initiated by Mayor Bloomberg will be required to monitor every bit of formula they stock and use.

Related: 7 Reasons Cloth Diapers Are Evil

Not only must the formula be accounted for, but also, a medical reason must be indicated and documented for each and every bottle of formula a baby receives.

With each bottle a mother requests and receives, she'll also get a talking-to. Staffers will explain why she should offer the breast instead.

"It's the patient's choice," said Allison Walsh of Beth Israel Medical Center. "But it's our job to educate them on the best option."

The program, called Latch-On NYC, is "a citywide initiative to support mothers who choose to breastfeed, and limit practices that interfere with that choice."

Participating hospitals — 27 of the city's largest 40 — must also stop distributing formula samples and formula-branded swag, such as gift bags and mugs.

Breastfeeding activists have always believed one of the biggest obstacles to breastfeeding comes in the form of easy access formula at the most crucial point: in the hospital immediately following birth. According to CBS News' Health Pop, the National Alliance For Breastfeeding Advocacy is behind this program:

The Alliance's executive director says keeping baby formula under lock and key, like medicines are kept, helps prevent hospital staffers from reaching for a bottle first, instead of encouraging new mothers to nurse their babies.

Apparently some hospitals already have similar formula policies in place. According to quote from a nurse at NYU's Langone Medical Center, breastfeeding has seen a substantial increase — from 39 percent to 68 percent — since starting this program.

From what I understand, this initiative is not meant to deny formula to new mothers who insist on it, but to prevent those who want to breastfeed from being sabotaged.

That said, sounds like this program might have the potential make moms who want to formula-feed feel bullied. But it could also make moms who want to commit to breastfeeding feel more supported.

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Berenstain Bears majorly miss any Chick-fil-A moral lesson
16 adorable Etsy finds for baby boys
3 reasons your kids need sunglasses
Does baby sign language work?

Source: Flickr user Raphael Goetter