Shedd Aquarium – A reader writes: “The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago recently finished some major renovations and added a “guest services suite” in the main foyer, complete with new restrooms, lockers, a nursing station, and family washroom. The nursing station is a private room with a lock, a comfy chair, changing station, sink and air conditioned. I used it last weekend when visiting the aquarium w/ out of town guests and it was wonderful!”
Another reader sent the following e-mail to the aquarium, regarding her experience as a nursing mother:
My name is (withheld) and I visited the Shedd Aquarium with my 2-year-old son and my 6-month-old daughter last Tuesday while my husband attended a business conference. We had a wonderful visit, and as a nursing mother I want to thank you for providing a nursing room. Although I support a mother’s right to feed her infant wherever she chooses, in the case of my daughter, she is an easily distracted and fussy nurser, and it is quite difficult to feed her in a more public setting. On our long visit to the Shedd we wouldn’t have been able to stay and enjoy ourselves had I not found a quiet space to feed her.
I did want to offer a few suggestions to make the experience an even more positive one for other breastfeeding mothers. I learned about your nursing room, not from your map or any wayfinding materials, but from another nursing mother earlier in the morning. I also heard about it from a mother I shared an elevator ride with, who had used it once. I set out to find the room, but unfortunately, had a lot of difficulty. The room is not marked clearly in your finding aids or signage, and it is mismarked completely on the lower-level elevator! I asked 2 separate staff members for help, and they both directed me to the family restrooms. When I clarified that I wanted the nursing room, not a toilet, the second staff member said, “oh yeah, I heard we have one here but it’s hard to find so most people just end up doing that in the bathroom anyway.” I approached a third staff member at the guest services counter and she also directed me to the family restroom saying she didn’t know you had a nursing room! Finally, a fourth staff member directed me correctly to the room.
It seems to me like this valuable facility would be used and enjoyed by more families if it were marked clearly, and if your staff were better trained as to its whereabouts. I hope you will also inform your staff that it is inappropriate to suggest a nursing mother should feed her child in a bathroom, ever.
When I did finally find the nursing room, I was disappointed to see the Shedd is still using a bottle icon to represent the nursing room! You are probably not aware that there is a new international breastfeeding symbol, which is to now be used much like the universal handicap symbol, to denote nursing in public spaces. You may download a pdf for use on your maps and signage here:
I want to say again that I appreciate you providing the facility of a nursing room, but there are a couple of things you could do to make it more comfortable. There was only one chair to sit in. . .no place for my toddler to sit and read a book while I nursed his sister, and no place for my husband to hang out had he been with me. I would venture that many nursing moms would be accompanied by other family members or children, and another small chair (or even two) would be helpful. In addition, although some moms prefer total privacy for nursing, at least two other families knocked on the door to come in while I was using the room–I would have let them in but when they saw there were no more chairs, they left and said they would find someplace else. I hated to be hogging the room when it wouldn’t bother me if another mom wanted to nurse nearby. Maybe a nursing “lounge” is more in order, with more seating available? With the number of visitors I saw at your Aquarium the day I was there, and the fact that 2 other families wanted the room in the short 10-minute span I was in there, I would think there would be more demand for such a space than just 1 chair in a small room.
I also understand you are using air dryers in an effort to conserve our Earth’s resources. However, nursing can be a bit messy at times and it would be nice if you had a paper towel dispenser so mothers could wipe up spit-up, spilled milk, or blot leaked milk that got onto mom’s shirt! Most families probably carry their own wipes and burp cloths, but we were traveling from another city and despite our packing as if we were traveling to the moon, we still managed to forget burp cloths. I hate to say I made a bit of a mess, and cleaned up as much as wipes would allow–but they are wet, not very absorbent. Since the room isn’t a toilet there is no toilet paper or anything to grab to clean up spills. Again, just a suggestion, and perhaps something the room’s designers did not take into account. It would be a huge convenience and much appreciated.
Thank you once again for allowing me to share my perspective as a nursing mother to make the Shedd Aquarium an even friendlier place for breastfeeding!
