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Nursing Lounge Coming to Nationals Park?

It's a home run for Nationals Park, which plans on adding a nursing lounge this July (CQ Roll Call File Photo).
It's a home run for Nationals Park, which plans on adding a nursing lounge this July (CQ Roll Call File Photo).

Nationals Park may be getting a bit more family friendly this year.  

Responding to a change.org petition started by an Arlington woman , a spokesperson for the Washington Nationals said there are plans to open a “state-of-the-art space to accommodate nursing mothers” at Nationals Park this July, in time for the All-Star break. Women currently have the option to use a designated conference room, but there is no view of the game from it, and the petition  complained it lacked privacy and was uncomfortably warm. “It’s about time. I think that it’s just terrific,” said Kathleen McCue, founder of Bethesda Breastfeeding and president of the Lactation Consultants Association of Greater Washington. “Everybody needs a place to go to nurse their baby that isn’t a bathroom or a bathroom stall. This is going to set a standard for other public arenas and give women greater freedom to do the things in life that they need to do. They shouldn’t be stuck at home just because they are nursing a baby.”  

Last month, the the Cincinnati Reds’ Great American Ballpark made national news when it unveiled its new nursing mothers suite. Actions such as these, McCue says, could lead to the creation of even more nursing-friendly spaces, both at ballparks and in places like airports.  

The Nationals, through a spokesperson, said the organization would work to address the petition’s feedback, including clearly identifying the room and having a more consistent temperature. A source close to the project described it as quickly moving. “The Change.org petition expedited what the organization had already been working on for awhile,” the source said.  

Related Links:
The Other Back Room: Breastfeeding on Capitol Hill 

The 114th: CQ Roll Call’s Guide to the New Congress


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