Program enables moms to breast-feed at work

Kerry Fehr-Snyder
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 21, 2003 12:00 AM

"Kelly Scranton has a job perk that she wouldn't trade for everything - permission to nurse her newborn at work.

As office chief for the state health lab's newborn screening program, the 33-year-old first-time mom brought her son Sean to work three days a week so she could nurse him at the office until recently.

She got so good at it that she could read paperwork and type on her computer while he ate. She even discreetly nursed him at staff meetings.

"The first week was a little stressful," she said. "I didn't want him to cry - ever. Not even make a sound."

But over time, she relaxed and her baby turned into a morale booster for the staff, she said.

"Babies just seem to cheer everyone up," Scranton added.

The nursing mother program went from pilot to permanent at the Arizona Department of Health Services in October, said coordinator Mary Ellen Rivero...."