The 21st century is dawning a new age of breastfeeding. More women are choosing to nurse instead of formula feed their infants from delivery up to one year and beyond. To address this new demand, designers must create efficient and effective lactation accommodations.

In Canada, only two provinces specifically detail the rights of breastfeeding mothers – Ontario and British Columbia. These provisions include time, access and accommodation to express milk in the workplace after returning to work from maternity leave.

Not only is there discrepancy between provinces but there is a gap in building codes and design principles for lactation accommodation. Existing laws do not provide codes or regulations for lactation design. In addition, the term “lactation” is used ambiguously and does not distinguish between two separate activities, breastfeeding and milk expression, which have different design ramifications. Breastfeeding is a natural activity that can be done in public by a nursing mother. Milk expression is an activity done by a lactating mother when she is separated from her nursing infant. It requires time, space and privacy.

To develop appropriate milk expression accommodations, designers need to look at the type of workplace, number of female workers, employer’s policies and practices, and prevailing laws for guidance. The activity of milk expression requires a mother to pump or hand express her milk in private at intervals she would normally nurse her infant – usually every two to three hours for 10 to 20 minutes.

In a workplace with only a few lactating employees, a private office or designated room (other than the washroom) are suitable spaces for milk expression breaks. A room close to an area with a sink that is suitable for food handling activities (such as a kitchen) is ideal as it provides lactating employees with a place to wash their hands or breast pump equipment. The employer should provide basic private room accommodations that include a chair, table, electrical outlet and occupancy door lock.

In facilities with many lactating employees, the milk expression activity space should include three separate zones: express, barrier and wash zones. This is based on food handling and health care facility guidelines. The zones reduce the risk of the spread of disease between multiple users and within the milk expression activity space itself.

• The express zone is for hand or pump expression of breast milk. It should include a chair, table, occupancy door lock and an electrical outlet for a pump.
• The wash zone is for washing hands or breast pump equipment. It should include a sink and hands-free faucet.
• The barrier zone is basically a splashguard or one metre separation between the express and wash zones to minimize the risk of cross-contamination and spread of disease between the two areas and/or multiple users.

There are currently two different furniture solutions that satisfy the three zone requirement in workplaces with a high number of lactating employees.

• The integrated solution includes a splashguard barrier to prevent the spread of disease with attached countertop, sink and chair.
• The casework solution uses a one metre barrier separation between the express and wash zones to prevent the spread of disease.

Both solutions can serve up to six women, one user at a time, with individual scheduled 30 minute breaks every three hours per work day. Including these three zones not only decreases the risk of the spread of disease but reduces break time required for expression, thereby increasing workplace efficiency and effectiveness.

Qena McCarty is president of Aqena Inc., a provider of innovative lactation accommodation design and products.