WASHINGTON — A nursing lounge at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has parenting blogger and WTOP commentator Leslie Morgan Steiner questioning whether mothers would be comfortable breast-feeding their children in a converted handicapped bathroom stall.
Morgan Steiner, who writes the blog Modern Mom, tells WTOP that during a visit to the airport last week she discovered the nursing lounge was nothing more than a handicapped stall with a plaque on the door.
“It just is appalling to me,” she says. “Breast-feeding is very hard and we should be committed as a society to make it easier for moms to do it, not harder. You should be able to breast-feed anywhere at Reagan.”
The sign has since been removed and airport staff are trying to come up with a better solution for nursing mothers in what limited space is available at Reagan, says airport spokeswoman Kimberly Gibbs.
“We recognize that the location of the lounge is not ideal,” Gibbs says.
The stall was the lone designated nursing space at Reagan and no similar spaces are currently provided at Dulles International Airport, which airport staff is also hoping to address, she says.
In October, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine ranked Baltimore Washington International Airport among the most friendly airports in the nation for nursing moms.
This year Virginia caught up with other states and passed a law protecting a mother’s right to nurse in public. The law won’t take affect until July.
But just because it’s legal doesn’t make it any easier for women who may feel self-conscious lifting their shirt or unbuttoning their blouse in public, Morgan Steiner says.
And some babies won’t feed if they are covered with a blanket, which also prevents mom and baby from making eye contact while nursing — an important component of bonding. Meanwhile some people stare, others make nasty comments or ask moms to go elsewhere, she says.
“It’s shaming,” Morgan Steiner says. “There’s a really simple situation and the solution is to just look away.”
Finding private spaces to nurse away from home has always been a challenge.
Public restrooms are unclean and also provide no room for older children to play for the 30 or 45 minutes a mom might spend feeding her baby, she says.
On her blog, Morgan Steiner writes that closets or other designated nursing areas can also be dirty and may require moms to sit on the floor. “This is unhygienic, uncomfortable, and insulting,” she writes.
“It is a health, and convenience, and bonding issue,” Morgan Steiner tells WTOP. “It’s confusing in our country because we worship moms and we think it’s the most important that any woman ever does. But we’re so unwilling to help moms to make motherhood, especially early motherhood, easier.”
In Cincinnati, the Reds created what moms consider a grand slam. The private nursing suite at the ballpark is much more comfortable and inviting for moms. Check it out in this video below. And tell us what local public spaces make the grade and what spots nursing moms should avoid. Use #WTOP on Twitter or post a comment on the WTOP Facebook page.
WTOP’s Amanda Iacone contributed to this report.
