Brooklyn Borough Hall To Open Public Breastfeeding Room

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Brooklyn Borough Hall is joining the citywide Breastfeeding Empowerment Zone movement.

Borough President Eric Adams said Thursday that a comfortable and accessible lactation room will be designated for public use.

"It is extremely important that mothers are able to breastfeed," Adams told 1010 WINS. "The natural act of breastfeeding should not get an unnatural response from onlookers and mothers need a safe place to breastfeed."

The planned opening date is Mother's Day.

"This is a low-cost initiative that will give us a high-cost, great result," Adams said.

There are about 200,000 children under the age of 5 living in Brooklyn. That figure is higher than the state average.

Experts say breastfeeding rates are lower in Brownsville, Bedford-Stuyvesant and other neighborhoods that are at or below the poverty line. Advocates are working to improve the rate -- and babies' health.

It's all part of an initiative called Family Friendly Brooklyn. An earlier component included the distribution of cribs and play yards to needy families.

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