Lock up your breast feeders (literally)!

[RubberTeeth]

Just passed through Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport and saw one of these cabins.

Touted as a convenience to nursing mothers, but I am really not so sure.

Years ago, I flew variously to New York, Moscow and Hong Kong with my breastfed 5 month old - and managed perfectly well in those various airports.

Are "lactation suites" really an improvement??

(BTW, Atlanta is an airport of awesome immigration inefficiency that I urge all to avoid.)

From what I've seen on Facebook (yes I know...) American women, out at least some American when, like them as a convenient place to pump. As they go back to work so soon after giving birth of they want to breastfeed they need to pump...

No way would I use one to feed in though.

Good God. Surely you'd just sit on an available chair and feed the baby? If they are going to provide a private area, a few comfy seats screened off would be better.

It's targeting people pumping in the main though, isn't it?
So obviously people might not want to pump out in the lounge.

Also, people pass through airports from all different nationalities, cultures and personalities. Maybe some do want privacy to bf?

Is it not for pumping? So presumably for bf'ing mother's who are travelling without their baby.

I definitely needed privacy for pumping!

Some people don’t feel comfortable doing it in public. I think it’s geared more towards those mothers. I’m sure it would be perfectly acceptable for woman to not use it.

Mothers not mother's.

FFS. Isolation booths? I’ve breastfed in a very lovely pub full of old Irish men propping up the bar who didn’t bat an eyelid. Atlanta nil. Comemara one.

Connemara. Fecks sake.

“Pumping moms” is a much bigger thing in the US - maternity leave is woefully short with women returning to work with very small babies at home and some of them travel whilst still expressing multiple times a day. So whilst breastfeeding in public is not an issue, pumping in public absolutely is. If you needed to express in the airport this would be ideal.

Whilst it may have originally been for mothers who need to express or those embarrassed to feed in public, it's going to end up being used as a solution for those who hate seeing it.

"You don't need to expose yourself anymore! You've got your booths. Go feed in there!"

I think it is a good thing. A lot of mothers in the US return to work very early and are dependent on expressing. This means they can do it in private and won't have to fight the laptop crowd for a plug. Maybe a room would be nicer but space in an airport is at a premium and it might be lovely inside.

Personally I would have used it, mainly because with DS1 I had to use nipple shields and have muslins everywhere to catch spillages and I wasn’t a fan of having my boob out trying to get it all sorted.

However, there are others who can do it far more gracefully than I and they don’t need to be hidden away. Some people don’t feel comfortable though and would prefer a bit of privacy. Depends if they are shepherding breastfeeding women into them instead of allowing them the choice

Et voila: www.zappos.com/beyondthebox/mamava-nursing-on-the-fly

These are specifically for pumping, as indicated on the side. But presumably can be used for breastfeeding by those who feel uncomfortable.

It says let's get pumped- please read before you post.

It's a great idea, unless of course you'd be happy pumping in public

Great idea, I wouldn't have breast pumped in a public place purely as I hated it, and bore no resemblance to bf for me. Hated doing it loos!!!

^ in loos!!!

I do understand the value of it as a pumping room... as others have said American women are usually back to work within a few months and pumping is a much bigger thing there. Given the frequency with which you have to pump if you’re doing that exclusively I can see the value of a place like this if I was having to take a flight for a work trip.

I very very much doubt its intended to “hide away” any woman breastfeeding a baby, as implied by the OP and another poster.. The truth is hardly anyone gives a shit, just feed whenever and wherever you want to.

Woe betide any 'pumping moms' passing through Atlanta then - it took 3 hours of immigration queuing just to change planes!

Imagine how desperate that you'd be with a couple of water balloons on your chest (Immigration is not where the booth is of course).

BTW, in my day (living in the UK), my employer had to make a space available for me to pump. I guess that's not the case in the US.

I pumped in public when I was exclusively feeding pumped milk to dc4. It was either that or hardly ever leave the house though as I used to feed baby for 45 minutes ish, then pump for 45 minutes. Then 90ish minutes after that he would be ready for another feed. I get that most women would rather pump in one of those things though.

FFS. Isolation booths? I’ve breastfed in a very lovely pub full of old Irish men propping up the bar who didn’t bat an eyelid. Atlanta nil. Comemara one.

Why do you assume old men propping up bars in Atlanta would bat an eyelid?

BTW, in my day (living in the UK), my employer had to make a space available for me to pump. I guess that's not the case in the US.

Did you do even the tiniest bit of research before posting this untrue comment?

I think it's great for 'pumping mums' I could only go out for a couple of hours at a time when I was pumping for ds.
Some babies / mums can't directly feed for whatever reason and pumping is time consuming, inconvenient and tiring which is why I stopped just before he was 3 months. Something like this even in a couple of shopping centres would be great.

Fair point. Atlanta airport nil. Old men in pubs one.

Work places in US (well the state where we lived) are supossed to supply a private room where Mums can pump. I worked in a Doctors offices so just used an exam room for a bit to pump. I imagine the Mums who travel with work will need that place in the pic, usually has a sink for washing and an elctric socket so electric pumps can be plugged in. I went back 10 weeks after a c-section. Usual mat leave was 6 weeks, I really don't think it's improved much since then, you get disabilty pay for the 6 weeks (I got 10) Now it's up to 12 weeks for a normal delivery.