Several years ago I received a phone call on our local breastfeeding
help-line from a mother who was traveling on business.  She was calling from
O'Hare Airport in Chicago and could not find a private place to pump.  She
ended up plugging her pump into a wall socket in a large women's rest room
next to the line of sinks, and told me she felt humiliated by the strange
looks she received from other women using the rest rooms.  I thought at the
time she might be able to get help from the nurse's/ first aid area, but
that room is only open limited hours.  Some airports have "family rest
rooms" that are small and private, but they are often locked, and as the
mother in the NY Times article noted, close flight connections don't leave a
lot of time to go searching for someone with a key.

Next time I was at O'Hare I looked around to see where a mother might be
able to pump with more privacy.  There wasn't much choice, although one rest
room had a separate handicap-accessible sink area that was somewhat shielded
by a partial wall.  (It is not appropriate for mothers to use the
handicapped toilet stall to pump, as that means a person in a wheelchair is
prevented from accessing it.  And mothers should not have to pump in the
toilet area anyway).

I asked some of the airport personnel about creating a pumping space.  I was
told that O'Hare Airport is already so overloaded for electrical needs that
they cannot even put in an ATM machine.  However, I wonder if all of us can
keep raising this question of a space to pump and eventually demonstrate to
airport managers and designers that this is a real and important need.  The
NY Times article would be a useful tool in making people really understand
what difficulties mothers traveling without their breastfeeding babies are
facing.

Anne Altshuler, RN, MS, IBCLC and LLL Leader
Madison, Wisconsin, USA

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html