An American University professor has caused quite a stir on campus for breastfeeding her daughter in class. (Click here to read the story.) What started as a challenging day for the single working mother soon exploded into a national controversy because after her daughter started fussing, the professor began nursing — in front of 40 students — to get her to stop.
It seems to us that the bigger question is… As a working parent, what do you do when you need emergency child care? You can’t send a sick child to daycare, and many parents don’t have an endless list of babysitters than can come sit on a weekday.
The good news is that as a result of the professor’s actions, American University is taking note of the need for emergency daycare for employees and looking into ways to help help their faculty and staff.
But what about the thousands of other employers that don’t offer any kind of emergency backup child care?
- American University professor Adrienne Pine breastfed her daughter in a class
- The student newspaper found out and sought comment from Pine
- The incident and Pine’s response led to heated debate about public breastfeeding
- Allison Gilbert hopes the controversy brings the need for emergency child care to the fore
