City, County officials expand number of breast pumping rooms for public and employees

There are now nearly 100 private breastfeeding rooms in the city of Madison and Dane county

January 21, 2020 9:12 AM

Keely Arthur,

Posted: January 21, 2020 9:12 AM

Updated: January 21, 2020 9:59 AM

by Keely Arthur

MADISON, Wis. — The city and county are working to make life a bit easier for mothers. There are now nearly 100 private breastfeeding rooms in the city of Madison and Dane county. While it is legal to breastfeed in public, officials tell News 3 Now that the rooms are meant to give mothers privacy if they so choose.

“It is a choice for anyone. If they want to use the room we like to provide accommodations,” said Hannah Mohelnitzky the spokesperson for the Madison engineering division.

For many years when it came to breast feeding there really wasn’t much of a choice at all. It was wherever you could find space a bathroom.

“You wouldn’t eat a sandwich in a public bathroom. That wouldn’t seem clean or seem right for you so why should it seem right for baby or mom?,” Mohelnitzky said.

In 2019, the city of Madison passed a memorandum requiring city facilities to have a safe and clean space for nursing mothers.

“We have both private rooms for employees and we also have public rooms for the public if anyone wants to go into a city facility and use one,” Mohelnitzky said. “Each room has a chair, usually it has wipeable fabric, and it has a plug-in for the breast pump.”

Dane County is also expanding the number of breast pumping room in the county. Officials recently approved $100,000 to further the initiative.

“We are really excited to see more of these in 2020 and just continue growing the availability of these spaces for people,” said Rebecca LeBeau, from Dane County Public Health.

Dane County also has four Mamava pods which are essentially mobile pumping rooms.