Support for Lactating Individuals at Stanford Medicine

Faculty and Academic Staff

Faculty, academic staff, and other teaching staff should contact their Department Chair, Division Chief, or Director of Finance and Administration (DFA). You may also speak with your Lactation Council department representative if you have any questions. For further guidance on lactation accommodations, please refer to Stanford's administrative guide.

Residents and Fellows

Lactation resources are available on the GME childcare webpage. Residents and fellows can get more information by contacting their specialty's lactation council member, their program director, or Mae Manalo (maemanalo@stanfordhealthcare.org).

Medical and Graduate Students

Medical and graduate students seeking lactation accommodations should contact the Graduate Life Office, their supervisor, or their clerkship coordinator when on clinical rotations. The Graduate Life Office (GLO) may be reached at graduatelifeoffice@stanford.edu or 650-736-7078 (students).

Post-Doctoral Scholars

Post-doctoral scholars may contact the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) Postdoc Benefits at postdocbenefits@stanford.edu (postdoctoral scholars) as soon as a lactation accommodation is needed. Further details on policy-related information are available in the handbook.

A list of current DFAs can be found at https://med.stanford.edu/dfa/contact.html.

Lactation Support for employees and students can be found at Cardinal at work, please visit the link here

Resources on lactation support for residents and fellows are available on the GME childcare webpage. For more information, residents and fellows can contact their specialty's lactation council member, their program director, or Mae Manalo (maemanalo@stanfordhealthcare.org). 

You will be provided with a private lactation space, other than a bathroom, that will be in close proximity to your workspace. You may request lactation time as needed.

A comprehensive, searchable list of lactation spaces can be found on the "lactation spaces" tab of this webpage. For room access codes, please visit this link and click on the red "Lactation Room Access Codes" button.
A map of lactation spaces in 500P can be found here.

If you are in a clinic setting, we recommend that you request a temporary lactation space with the clinic manager. If you are in other settings, please discuss the need for a temporary lactation space with your supervisor. You can partner with them to find an appropriate, close, and private space. Temporary signs and privacy curtains may be utilized.

Where pumps are provided, they will have an Ameda Platinum hospital grade pump. For a list of rooms that have pumps, please follow this link and click on the red "Lactation Room Access Codes" button.

Yes, you can reach out to meet with a lactation consultant. They may be contacted via email lactation@stanfordchildrens.org or call (650) 723-4118.  If you leave a voicemail, they will also call you back with lactation advice. Your pediatrician may also serve as a resource to connect you with a lactation consultant. 

The following resources are available for support:

Coaching: In partnership with the WellMD & WellPhD Center, the Healthy Living program offers individualized coaching specifically for School of Medicine physicians, clinicians, and faculty scientists for enhancing work- life integration and professional fulfillment.

• 5 sessions of one-on-one coaching with a nationally certified coach

• EA and STAP fund eligible. Subsidies are available from WellMD & WellPhD for other SoM faculty lines, clinical fellows, and residents.

Contact: bewell.stanford.edu/coaching-for-physicians-som-faculty or healthcoaching@stanford.edu

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Stanford WellConnect: Confidential mental health referral and consultation service to facilitate timely access to counseling, stress management and coping skills, wellness coaching (including strategies to mitigate burnout), and mental health services. Available to all benefits-eligible SOM faculty, fellows and residents.

Contact: wellconnect@stanford.edu, (650) 724-1395, or med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/special-initiatives/wellconnect.html

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Stanford Women’s Wellness Clinic: The Stanford Women’s Wellness Clinic in the department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences provides specialized mental health care to women. The Clinic specializes in the evaluation and treatment of a wide variety of disorders, including perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, treatment resistant depression in women, and all gynecology related psychiatric conditions. 

Contact: (650) 498-9111, or https://med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/patient_care/womenswellness.html

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Stanford University Faculty Staff Help Center: Professional and confidential counseling about work-related or personal issues. Short-term counseling is available for individuals, couples, and families. Family members can enroll independently.

• 10 free sessions per topic

• Open to faculty, fellows, residents, and post-docs

Contact: cardinalatwork.stanford.edu/faculty-staff-help-center

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WellMD & WellPhD Concierge Service in Partnership with Circles: Concierge support service available to benefits-eligible SoM basic science and clinical science faculty, residents, and clinical fellows. In the face of intense work demands, this program is designed to save you time on personal tasks by assisting with researching household, new parent, recreation, health, and family services, as well as planning events and travel. 

More information: https://med.stanford.edu/cwo/programs/circles-concierge.html.

Pre- enroll using this link: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/a9a9584b57da4d2a98235a696657337a  

Residents, fellows, and Stanford School of Medicine Faculty can access coaching and mental health services through Stanford WellConnect (contact: (650) 724-1395 or med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/special-initiatives/wellconnect.html).  

All pregnant and lactating people can directly request sub-specialty mental healthcare through the Stanford Women’s Wellness Clinic (contact: (650) 498-9111, or https://med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/patient_care/womenswellness.html

Times vary, but most people will need between 10-30 minutes to express milk. Additional time may be necessary to clean pump parts and store milk.

Frequency is more important than duration of pumping for maintaining milk supply. Most people will need to express milk every 2-4 hours, which can be 2-3 times/8-hour workday or ~8 times during a 24 hour workday.  In general, people may need to express milk more frequently for younger infants and less frequently for infants/toddlers as they grow older.  Some people will need to express less frequently during the day if the infant is older and is chest/breastfeeding during the night. 

Yes, you may request to block clinic time during each clinic session. Please discuss with your DFA to assess how this may or may not impact you financially. 

Please see lactation space list (click on the red "Lactation Room Access Codes" button) to assess if you will need to bring a personal breast pump or if you will be using a hospital grade pump provided in some of the lactation spaces.

Helpful items include:

• Charger/plug: with car adapter (may pump with hands free bra during commute)
• Tubing to connect with pump
• Flanges
• Multiple sets of flanges may be helpful to reduce the need to wash/dry during the day
• Milk storage containers (4 ounce and 8 ounce bottles, depending upon pumping volumes)
• Optional: Milk storage bags—to store milk after pumping (if not keeping milk in storage containers).
• Pump bag: multiple options
• Dish soap/cleaning wipes
• Permanent marker to date/time milk storage container

The wRVU Lactation Credit Program is a new initiative to help offset productivity-based compensation losses for clinical faculty who are breastfeeding or chestfeeding. It provides “lactation credit” to recognize the time needed to express milk during the workday.

The program is available to clinical faculty members at Stanford Medicine who are lactating and whose compensation includes a wRVU-based clinical productivity component, regardless of clinical setting. Faculty members returning to work from parental leave with intent to lactate on September 1, 2024 or later, are eligible for this program. 

To learn more about how the program works in your department or to find out if you're eligible, contact your department’s Director of Finance and Administration (DFA) and/or Lactation Council member.

Many lactating clinical faculty face challenges like long hours, inflexible schedules, and limited breaks, which can make it difficult to take time to pump or breastfeed. When compensation is tied to clinical productivity (RVUs), this can lead to lost income. The program is intended to help mitigate those losses, making it easier for faculty to care for their families while continuing their clinical work.