Chicago police officer advocates for sanitary conditions to pump breast milk

CHICAGO -- Mom and Chicago police Officer Erin Kreho has become a voice for breastfeeding moms and parents in the workforce after she herself struggled to find sanitary pumping locations at work.

"If I wouldn't eat in that space myself, then the food that I'm bringing home, my baby shouldn't eat it either," Kreho said.

After welcoming a new baby, Kreho had difficulty finding privacy and sanitary conditions to pump in while at work, so she took action.

"I did have a couple of meetings with supervisors. I filed a complaint at the state level, and I kind of thought that that would create a dialogue and maybe make it a little bit more official. That really didn't do much either," she said.

Over time, Kreho did see improvements at her place of employment.

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"Right now, it is a usable space. It's taken a while to get it to that position." Kreho said. "I guess, when I realized that things weren't changing, it made me want to speak out a little bit more because that's how change gets made."

She and other moms advocated for an improvement in conditions and are now hoping to inspire other moms to do the same.

"I do hope other moms will feel empowered to speak out if they need to. The deciding factor shouldn't be your employer isn't helping you out. I hope that that's never the reason that someone decides to stop feeding their baby the way that they chose to," Kreho said.

Kreho is also a volunteer with La Leche League, a non-profit organization that provides information and resources to breastfeeding parents.

For more on La Leche League, visit llli.org.