I live in Pittsburgh, and our Phipps Conservatory is probably the best in the country! It is such a wonderful place to go for a peaceful time, especially nice in the winter when you can walk through a rainforest or desert! So, I went there last week with a friend and when I went pee I saw a chair in the bathroom with a little metal plaque affixed to it that read, "DO NOT remove this chair from the bathroom. Reserved for use by nursing mothers."
SO I emailed asking if they have a policy about nursing there and if mothers are required to nurse in the bathroom.
They replied saying they have no specific policy but that as they are a public place women are free to breastfeed anywhere they want (yay!); but that mothers have requested a chair to feed in the bathroom so they put it there, and then had to put the message on the chair 'cause staff kept moving it.
While it is great to know that they do not in fact require breastfeeding to be done in the bathroom, I'm afraid that just seeing that message on the chair could make moms think that they do have to breastfeed there. I'm thinking if they had a note or sign somewhere to let people know they are free to breastfeed anywhere that would help. And while it was nice of them to provide a chair in the restroom when it was requested, it would have been even better for them to say "oh, you can feed anywhere you like, there are benches all over, but if you do want to be alone there's a comfortable chair in this room over here where you can lock the door..." or something like that.
SO, I want to try to help them be more breastfeeding-friendly, but I'm not sure how to go about it. See, because they are not anti-NIP there is no reason for me to be on the offensive, or even defensive. It's just that I think, in light of the message on the chair that could be misinterpreted, they could be more actively supportive of breastfeeding AND make clearer to their patrons that they are. Seems if you knew you were supported by the institution, you'd be less likely to choose to feed in the john instead of under palm trees or by a waterfall. But if you're nervous about that "tap on the shoulder," not knowing if someone would tell you to leave or not, I could see how you could be more relaxed to just sit in the bathroom with the door locked. But that is a sad situation indeed.
So if anyone could give advice on how to word a letter to be very polite about making some suggestions, I'd appreciate it!
Thanks!
Jen
SO I emailed asking if they have a policy about nursing there and if mothers are required to nurse in the bathroom.
They replied saying they have no specific policy but that as they are a public place women are free to breastfeed anywhere they want (yay!); but that mothers have requested a chair to feed in the bathroom so they put it there, and then had to put the message on the chair 'cause staff kept moving it.
While it is great to know that they do not in fact require breastfeeding to be done in the bathroom, I'm afraid that just seeing that message on the chair could make moms think that they do have to breastfeed there. I'm thinking if they had a note or sign somewhere to let people know they are free to breastfeed anywhere that would help. And while it was nice of them to provide a chair in the restroom when it was requested, it would have been even better for them to say "oh, you can feed anywhere you like, there are benches all over, but if you do want to be alone there's a comfortable chair in this room over here where you can lock the door..." or something like that.
SO, I want to try to help them be more breastfeeding-friendly, but I'm not sure how to go about it. See, because they are not anti-NIP there is no reason for me to be on the offensive, or even defensive. It's just that I think, in light of the message on the chair that could be misinterpreted, they could be more actively supportive of breastfeeding AND make clearer to their patrons that they are. Seems if you knew you were supported by the institution, you'd be less likely to choose to feed in the john instead of under palm trees or by a waterfall. But if you're nervous about that "tap on the shoulder," not knowing if someone would tell you to leave or not, I could see how you could be more relaxed to just sit in the bathroom with the door locked. But that is a sad situation indeed.
So if anyone could give advice on how to word a letter to be very polite about making some suggestions, I'd appreciate it!
Thanks!
Jen
