SAN ANTONIO BREASTFEEDING COALITION!

The San Antonio Breastfeeding Coalition (SABC) is the central coordinating resource for breastfeeding support, advocacy and education in San Antonio, Texas. Their bilingual website is an excellent tool for families and professionals to access education, information, as well as current breastfeeding news and events. They support local events, such as the upcoming La Leche League of Texas conference and the Miracle Milk® stroll. Latch On San Antonio usually boasts an attendance of 500+ people, including 150+ mother/baby couplets! In May 2017, the United States Lactation Consultants Association will be hosting a conference in San Antonio with SABC as local chapter support. In addition to promoting and supporting these events, SABC provides quarterly scholarships to qualifying members needing assistance for lactation specific education, conferences or the IBCLC exam.

According to SABC President, Karen Bohr, RN, IBCLC, SABC’s current focus is to reestablish its diversity across race/ethnicity/socioecomonic divides in their breastfeeding community. Their ideal is to be a coaltion where all breastfeeding supporters—child birth educators, doulas, dieticians, SLT, OT, WIC agencies, doctors, nurses, midwives, CLC and IBCLCs—are active, participatory members. SABC strives to assess community needs and offer diverse topics/educational offerings at their general membership meetings at the San Antonio Baby Café.

SABC played an advisory role in helping San Antonio International Airport address the needs of lactating mothers traveling with or without babies. As of May 2016, in addition to the pre-security lactation room, there are now also 2 large lactation pods post-security in terminals A and B. The freestanding pods are large enough to accommodate a mother and baby with luggage and a stroller, and provides seating and electrical outlets for pumping or nursing in a quiet, stress-free environment. SABC advised the airport about the pods’ placement as well as apps available for lactating mothers on the go. The Texas Breastfeeding Coalition requested SABC’s project as a model for other state coalitions to work with their local airports. Congratulations, SABC, on being a leader in this initiative!