Breastfeeding-on-the-go and the Magic of Mamava

“No,” she said emphatically with a look partly of surprise and condescension. It was as if I had two horns on my head, or had asked a ridiculously stupid question. I walked away wondering what to do with the soreness and tightness in my chest and thinking about the dwindling stash of pumped breast milk in the freezer at home.

I had asked this airport attendant whether there was a breastfeeding or pumping room. It was my first business trip after my daughter was born and nothing could have prepared me for this aspect of the tug-of-war that is motherhood and full-time work, especially full-time work laced with frequent travel. I had started my day in the wee hours of the morning with the obligatory morning pump and in between presentations; I had made use of the spacious and only restroom in a Chipotle nearby, much to the chagrin of restaurant patrons who needed ‘to go’. 

I don’t know why I imagined that when I finally got to the airport, I would find an oasis for lactating mothers, where I could pump several hours worth of breast milk before boarding my final flight back home. Surely, many lactating mothers must fly through Laguardia Airport daily without their babies? What on earth do they do? 

After asking and searching the terminal, in vain, I thought of my dwindling alternative locations to pump, cringing at the only option I had left – a bathroom stall. I scoured the terminal to find the cleanest possible stall. After about thirty minutes of standing with my nose scrunched in disgust, making painstaking efforts to ensure that my pump and bottles had no actual contact with the bathroom stall, and finally collecting and storing several ounces of ‘liquid gold’, I made my way out of  the stall, washed my hands, and marched in frustration to my gate. 

Airport bathrooms are gross and no mother should have to pump in a bathroom.  In today’s day and age, when the benefits of breastfeeding are well-publicized and documented you would think that there would be ample provision made for mothers who need to provide food for their babies and keep their milk supply up while travelling.

Laguardia wasn’t the only airport that disappointed me. I had searched in vain for pumping places in several major airports on the east coast and south-west of the country while travelling for work. So you can imagine that the tiny Burlington airport in Vermont completely knocked my socks off, when I discovered it had a designated pumping location. I asked customer service attendants again about a pumping room, while in Burlington on business and waited to hear the usual ‘no’.

‘Yes we do have a place where you can pump,' the customer service agent replied.
Wide-eyed with surprise, I asked for further clarification in total disbelief, ‘Where?” With an empathetic smile, the agent I asked pointed to an odd-looking kiosk neatly stashed away in the main airport lobby.  Honestly, I initially doubted that the closed kiosk was roomy enough to fit me, my pumping gear, and travel bags. On entering it, I realized, to my relief and amazement that there was more than enough room.

I promptly learned from the posters inside the kiosk that this wonderful contraption was called a ‘Mamava Lactation Station’. It had no shortage of electric outlets, a place to sit, and enough room for my travelling bags. It was such a retreat from the hustle and bustle of travelling and I wish, for the sake of all lactating mothers, that there were more of such stations installed in airports across the country.

The Mamava Laction Station at the airport in Burlington,VT
http://mamava.com/the-mamava-lactation-station/ 

Of all places to find this treasure who would have thought it would be in a tiny regional airport in Vermont, when several major airports still had no such provisions. Indeed, it looks like smaller regional airports may be establishing a trend in being more compassionate to travelling mothers. I was in for another treat at a small airport on a later business trip to New York. I had opted to fly into the smaller McArthur airport instead of JFK or Laguardia because of its proximity to my client, and again, there was a little haven tucked away in that airport for travelling lactating mums. This time, it was a very pleasant nursing room, complete with a rocking chair and changing tables. Indeed, a one-stop shop for a travelling mum’s needs whether she’s travelling alone and needs to pump, or has her baby in tow.

In today’s world mothers shouldn't have to crouch or stand in an unsanitary bathroom to provide food for their babies just because their jobs or lives necessitate travel. The Mamava station in Burlington, Vermont seems to be the only of such stations installed and nursing rooms at airports are still few and far between – this needs to change.

If you are reading this post and know of any examples of airports with nursing or pumping rooms please leave a comment with this information. It would be useful to publish a list of such places for mothers in need.

Memories are for Keeps

Sometime during labor, when my contractions had become quite unbearable, I remember being genuinely perplexed about mothers who had multiple children. In the heat of my huffing and puffing, the thought that any human being would put themselves through childbirth more than once seemed masochistic at best. Surely the adage ‘once bitten twice shy,’ had to count for something… Maybe I really should have been chastising myself for opting to be one of those ‘annoying natural-is-best’ mothers who choose the noble road of pain, rather than the blissful mostly painless birth experience now available to womankind through the epidural. Nevertheless, experienced mothers are right when they say you forget the pain.

The truth is, while you may not actually forget the fact that it was a painful experience, you don’t really remember the specifics of the pain. The pain of childbirth, however, is probably the only thing about motherhood you really want to forget. Children grow so incredibly fast that parents spend much of parenthood, especially the first few years, finding a way to record those precious memories. From the moment you receive your adorable bundle in your arms, each milestone is recorded with relish, making ‘breaking news’ the norm in your home.

If I had any journalistic or photography skills they are now exclusively applied to recording my daughter’s journey through life. Sometimes I’m quite amused at myself and the frequency with which I update close family and friends about my daughter’s feats: her first smile, the first time she rolled over, the first time she held her head up, her first tooth, first step, first utterance of ‘Dada’ and ‘Mama’. I have literally inundated my family and close friends with our baby’s firsts. Indeed motherhood is a special journey of milestone celebrations.

Milestones are duly recognized as such cherished treasures that there’s a plethora of ideas and products out there to help you safeguard precious memories of your child. There’s the tried-and-true ‘baby book’ concept that you can use as an album of pictures and souvenirs. Baby books range from basic affordable photo albums of under $20 to fancy deluxe leather-bound record books that cost over $100. People also make hand and foot print casts as cute baby keep sakes. Then we have our DIY magician moms whose creativity puts me in awe with the cute little treasures they find time to create for their children. I personally really take to the baby book idea and I always tell myself I will eventually get around to creating a really good one for my daughter but with balancing work, motherhood, and wife-hood, finding the time to do so has been like pulling teeth.

You can imagine how grateful I was to receive the ‘Memory Can’ - a truly innovative gift from a good friend to help me record my daughter’s milestones in a quick efficient way. This container, which my friend creatively decorated, came with a sticky-note pad as pictured below:

Whenever my daughter meets a milestone, I quickly jot down a note with the date and her age and throw it in the can. This way, I have been able to record all her amazing feats thus far without spending hours putting a baby book together, or worse, missing out on recording those special moments because I can never find the time. This can could eventually help me create a baby book, if I do finally find the time, but I believe that even as a standalone safeguard of memories, it is pretty awesome. I can’t wait to read through the collection of memories with my daughter one day to show her how far she’s come!