Eindhoven gets breastfeeding cafe

From the Eindovens Dagblad (local Dutch newspaper):

by Kim Van Vlerken. Tuesday, July 14, 2009 | 13:14

EINDHOVEN - Eindhoven will get a breastfeeding café. After Utrecht, Apeldoorn, Zwolle, Vlaardingen and Breda, Eindhoven is the sixth city in the Netherlands where the initiative will be picked up. The cafe opens early September in restaurant La Place in the Woensel Shopping Center.

The breastfeeding café uses a corner of the restaurant. It offers young mothers a place where they are in a relaxed atmosphere to share experiences and able to ask questions to experts. This may involve their children and can happen in public without strange looks from bystanders.

Ingrid van Lierop, a lactation specialist from Eindhoven, and one of the nine women behind Eindhovens first breastfeeding café: "The first eight days after birth a new mom has access to a lactation specialist, but after childbirth, it usually takes another three to four weeks before they enter into the Dutch system of ambulant postnatal care. At that point, many women are already experiencing problems such as sore breasts and doubts about the milk production. Later on they are starting to worry about breastfeeding at work. Women who are not well managed, are inclined to stop and that is a shame. Good information is very important and sometimes can be as simple as a tip or a pep talk ", says Van Lierop. The lactation specialist has a private practice besides being a midwife notes that women need some place at talk about this."

Eindhoven mother Jolanda van Zuijdam walks with her baby through the shopping center and welcomes the initiative. After the birth of her first child she lacked support. Meanwhile, she is pregnant with her second child. She knows that they will visit the cafe when the new sprout is there.

"The breastfeeding café is neither a doctor’s office, sales office nor a substitute for a consultation ", stresses Van Lierop."If there really is a problem, women will still need to make an appointment."

Opening

Starting Wednesday September 9, young mothers can go to the breastfeeding cafe in La Place. Thereafter, the cafe is open every Wednesday morning between 10am and noon.

Link to the original Dutch article