NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Nashville International has opened a room designed specifically for nursing mothers.
The lactation room has been open about a month, and it's past the security checkpoint so women who are waiting on flights can access it if they want.
The Airport Authority said mothers were asking for something like this, and the mothers even told officials pumping and nursing in a bathroom just wasn't working out.
“It's really important in an airport environment because sometimes when you’re traveling and making connections, you’re stuck in a secure part of the terminal for a while,” said Shannon Sumrall, of the Nashville Airport Authority. “It could be hours, and if you’re a nursing mom, you know you have a three to five hour window that you’re going to need to nurse, or you’re going to need to pump. You need to have somewhere to do that, and you don’t need to have to go back through security to go find a place. It needs to be over here on the secure side, past the checkpoint. And it’s especially true because we like to make sure that mothers don’t feel like they need to come to this room to nurse. If you feel comfortable nursing, we encourage that. Nurse wherever you’d like, at a restaurant, at the gate, that’s fine, but it’s also for mothers who need to pump, that you actually have to take off your top and you need that privacy and a plug in. This is what it’s ideal for.”
The lactation room is near the A-B Concourse food court by the Noshville restaurant.
