Nebraska state senator makes history breastfeeding on Legislature floor

More and more moms are entering America’s political arenas, and as they do, history is being made.

The state of Nebraska saw its own historical moment this week when state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, who represents Omaha’s Sixth District, brought her 6-month-old baby onto the legislature floor so that he could breastfeed.

“[M]y staff let me know that I am the first Nebraska State Senator to nurse on the floor in Nebraska History,” Cavanaugh wrote in a Facebook caption of a pic snapped during the historic moment.

According to the mom of three, her youngest, baby Barrett, had to join her at work when inclement weather threw her schedule (and Barrett’s) out of whack.

“I didn’t put a lot of thought into it,” Cavanaugh told the Omaha World-Herald. “He’s my third, so it’s kind of on autopilot at this point. Normally when I’m nursing, I’m usually multitasking. I wanted to hear the floor debate that was happening, so I just sat down at my desk because that was more comfortable than standing off to the side.”

She continued: “Barrett won’t take formula—I say he’s a gentleman of discerning taste—and I don’t have an oversupply of milk, so he had to come with me.”

Research proves that “the more women in government, the healthier a population,” as Edwin Ng, an assistant professor at the University of Waterloo’s School of Social Work and Carles Muntaner, a professor of nursing at the University of Toronto, recently wrote for The Conversation.

“We believe gender politics matters in public health because it helps to determine ‘who gets what, when and how,'” the two academics wrote.

“We believe that electing more women in government not only promotes gender equality and strengthens democratic institutions but also makes real and substantive contributions to government spending and population health.”

Senator Cavanaugh is already proving Muntaner and Ng right.

When a Facebook user commented on her nursing picture to ask if the capitol building could work on creating a “better place for staff to pump than the area in the first floor bathroom,” Cavanaugh had some good news.

“I wanted to let you know that today I introduced LB 709, which will create a space in the capitol building for nursing parents to express breast milk that 1) Is not in a bathroom, 2) Is a private space, 3) Has electrical outlets and running water. The space will be available to legislators, staff, and visitors to the capitol.”

Like Sen. Tammy Duckworth and other politicians around the world, as a multitasking mama Cavanaugh is proving that government needs moms as much as babies need to eat.

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