Breastfeeding Station to Open in Manassas Park City Hall

An existing room in the Department of Social Services in the will be converted into a station for nursing mothers and their babies, said Addie Whitaker, director of Social Services in Manassas Park.

The room and its supplies are funded by the Prince William Department of Health in Manassas, which hasn’t yet announced an opening date for the nursing station.

The room will be open to city employees and residents.

Fathers of nursing babies are welcome, too, Whitaker said during a July city council meeting when the announcement proclaiming August National Breastfeeding Month was made by the governing body.

"We designed the room with fathers in mind," she told city council in July.

Manassas Park is a breastfeeding-friendly community and is committed to increasing the breastfeeding rates by promoting and supporting such practices, the city’s proclamation reads.

Healthy People, an organization of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has the goal of increasing the number of breastfed babies.

By the year 2020, Healthy People wants the number of breastfed babies to increase from 74 percent to 81.9 percent, according to the Manassas Park proclamation and data from the Healthy People website.

The number of 6-month-old babies who are breastfed should increase from 43.6 percent to 60.6 percent by 2020, according to the website.

Studies show breastfed babies have a lower rate of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

They also have a lower rate of ear infections and asthma, as well as childhood obesity, childhood leukemia and diabetes, according to the proclamation.

Healthy People, is a 30-year-old organization that provides 10-year national objectives for improving the health of Americans by measuring the impact of preventive activities and helping people to make informed decisions about their health.

 The U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin implemented 20 concrete action steps to support the removal of barriers to breastfeeding, according to the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee website.

The "20 Actions in 20 Days" campaign began Aug. 6 with the goal of highlighting  breastfeeding steps and implementation strategies each day until the end of the month.