Share Your Stories About Breastfeeding and Pumping in Airports to Help Others

Currently, there are laws in place that require large- and medium-size airports to provide a private space -- not located in a bathroom -- in each terminal for breastfeeding and pumping breast milk. These laws are a result of the Friendly Airports for Mothers (FAM) Act, created in 2015. You may have used or seen these spaces in airports -- in some locations, it's a private, specially-designated room in the terminal, in other places it's a private "pod," like those created by the company Mamava. 

These laws have been helpful for parents (travelers and airport employees alike) who need to care for and feed their child, whether it's a child they have in arms or a child at home who needs expressed breast milk. If you've been one of these parents who have used and found helpful private breastfeeding spaces in airports, we need your help. 

While the laws cover medium and large airports, they do not yet extend to small hub airports, which are airports that serve smaller communities and towns located outside of larger cities (for example, Syracuse, NY, Allentown, PA, Longbeach, CA, El Paso, TX, etc.). New legislation recently introduced, called the Friendly Airports for Mothers (FAM) Improvement Act (S. 2638) and the Small Airports Mothers' Room Act (H.R. 3362), would expand these laws to provide breastfeeding accommodations at small hub airports. Small hub airports serve up to 25% percent of all flying travelers, not to mention their employees, which means that this small change would have a big impact. 

So how can you help? By sharing your stories! Stories help illustrate an unclear or unrelatable piece of legislation, which helps policymakers see and understand the importance behind it. If you or someone you know has been impacted positively by private breastfeeding spaces at airports and are willing to share about it, visit the United States Breastfeeding Committee's website to submit a story. Your story may be used in one of the many ways organizations call attention to the need for support, including conversations with Congress, policymakers, and the media, and in future action campaigns, blogs, articles, etc. 

Published: October 30, 2019

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