Chris Mulford (19 November 1941 – 23 August 2011) was a prominent advocate of

breastfeeding Breastfeeding, or nursing, is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child. Breast milk may be from the breast, or may be expressed by hand or pumped and fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that br ...

in the United States and globally.

Biography

Her father was a radio broadcaster and editor of a newsletter for dairy farmers. She was married to George Mulford and had two children, Zoe and Toby. An avid musician, Mulford was active in community theater. She acted as sound designer for the Players Club of Swarthmore's 2007 productions of '' Reckless'' and ''

Many Moons ''Many Moons'' is a children's picture book written by James Thurber and illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. It was published by Harcourt, Brace & Company in 1943 and won the Caldecott Medal in 1944.American Library AssociationCaldecott Medal Winn ...

'', and their 2010 production of '' Doubt, a Parable''. Mulford died on August 23, 2011, after suffering a stroke while hiking with her husband in Wyoming.

Breastfeeding advocacy work

Mulford was a

La Leche League La Leche League International (LLLI) () is a non-governmental, nonprofit organization that organizes advocacy, education, and training related to breastfeeding. It is present in about 89 countries. The aim of the charity is to provide mother to ...

leader. She started her work with mothers as a hospital nursery and maternity nurse in 1975. In 1985, she was in the first group who took the exam to become International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs). She was a second coordinator for

World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) is a network of people working on a global scale to eliminate obstacles to breastfeeding and to act on the Innocenti Declaration. The groups within this alliance tackle the problems from a variet ...

and Women and Work Task Force since the 1990s. She served on the board of the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) for 5 years and was on the IAC of the

(WABA) from 1997. Mulford became a regular long term volunteer for WABA, involved particularly in writing and documentation of a host of conferences, meetings and task force reports. Mulford became the second Women and Work Task Force Coordinator since the 1990s. She paved the way for the WABA-ILCA Fellowship by being an exemplar of a fellow, having spent several months each year in

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

volunteering at the WABA Secretariat almost annually. She would do in-house training among the staff, the local breastfeeding contacts, and also offered breastfeeding support to local mothers whenever the need arose. She was a significant part of the lobby team at the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

(ILO) conferences in 1999 and 2000 which helped to ensure that the new ILO Convention 183 on Maternity Protection (MP) recognised breastfeeding as a working woman's reproductive right and extended maternity leave from 12 to 14 weeks. Using her training ground at WABA on the MP issue, Mulford continued to be a key advocate for MP in the USA and wherever she went; and continued to be instrumental in developing MP resources for ILCA and the WABA Task Force. Mulford was also an active member of the Women, Infants and Children (

WIC The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is an American federal assistance program of the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for healthcare and nutritio ...

) Program of South Jersey (eastern USA), co-chairman for the Business Case for Breastfeeding project, a Trustee of the New Jersey Breastfeeding Coalition (NJBFC) and Pennsylvania Breastfeeding Coalition. Linda Smith, of the Ohio Lactation Consultant Association, wrote, "Chris’s gentle wisdom and cross-discipline sharp thinking was a steadying force in many meetings, events and conferences. She was a true pioneer and role model for many of us."OLCA News, September 2011
Together with Kay Hoover, Mulford founded the Lactation Consultants in Private Practice conference, which was held for the first time in 1990 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "I believe breastfeeding is far more than a health issue. For me, it was a way to take care of myself and my babies, not just a way to feed them. It was an activity, a life stage, that shaped me as a person and permeated my relationships with my children, family, and friends" - Chris Mulford, February 2011.

Writings

Mulford was known for her succinct and eloquent essays on breastfeeding related subjects.
It's Great to Be a Mammal.

Attitudes Can Change: Supporting Mothers and Their Babies in Public NursingBreastfeeding is Always the First Line of Defense!
at United States Breastfeeding committee (subscription required)
Is breastfeeding really invisible, or did the health care system just choose not to notice it?
World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action
"Swimming Upstream: Breastfeeding Care in a Nonbreastfeedtng Culture"
''Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing'', Volume 24, Issue 5, pages 464–474, June 1995 (subscription required)

Footnotes

External links

International Lactation Consultant Association

World Alliance for Breastfeeding

Business Case for Breastfeeding

New Jersey Breastfeeding Coalition

Pennsylvania Breastfeeding Coalition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulford, Chris 1941 births 2011 deaths Breastfeeding activists American health activists