I’m such a clean, plays out scenarios, thinks of every possible outcome, wants an organic type of lifestyle life for my child, type of mom. And at the top of the list comes public restrooms and nursing spaces for mothers and babies.
It was almost back to back shopping experiences I had with using a public restroom and asking for a nursing room, and I was excited to have such experiences being a mom again.
With my first son, I never went out until he was close to a year old, so most of the diaper and breastfeeding moments happened at home.
My new favorite blogging quote is “fast forward eleven years”. Now I get to test out other experiences I hadn’t yet had.
The first one was taking my son to the lady’s room for a diaper change. Towing stroller too. I was father’s day shopping at Bass Pro(not being endorsed for this post) and absolutely have to brag.
Aside from our famous Bucees clean bathroom gas/rest stop here in Texas, this Bass Pro location was up there in ranking. And even higher for my “mom standards” for needing to attend to my baby.
Like most Texans, you’re greeted with respect and pleasantries. Someone going into the ladies’ room held the door open for me and our oversized stroller. Even the ladies washing their hands made room for us to pass to the family stall.
I was quite surprised when I noticed that there was not only the toilet and changing table in the family stall but my very own sink and towel dispenser. It had just about everything.
That was until I decided to nurse him before doing some more shopping. There was nowhere for me to sit and nurse, so I decided to hold him.
Well holding a 14lb baby gets pretty tiring quickly. I propped my foot on the wheel of the stroller and proceeded to breastfeed.
I have had to breastfeed while sitting on the toilet at an airport once and that took everything in me to not be grossed out.
The second experience came when shopping for new equipment at Buybuybaby (also not endorsed to write a review) for a high chair, swing, and possibly new car seat.
After checking out, I knew I had a bit of a drive to the next store and that my son needed to nurse.
I asked if they had a nursing room and sure enough they did! It was such a cute little room, set up like a nursery in a home. It was complete with two very comfortable rocking recliners, a changing table with wipes, and a diaper pail. (Though that diaper pail I couldn’t figure out how to use!!)
My mom was with me at the time, so we were both able to comfortably fit in the room, along with the stroller.
It didn’t take long for my son to get very comfortable breastfeeding in the room, so he began to stretch out as wide as he could.
We were laughing at him just so relaxed drinking his milk, I told my mom to take pictures of the moment.
Writing this I now recalled back to shopping with my mom at a mall last year. I think it was Macy’s we had stopped for baby items when I was pregnant. I had to use the restroom and saw they had a nice family room.
Since I had a very successful time breastfeeding my first son, I was planning on it again with my second, so whenever I’m out shopping or at restaurants, my first thoughts are to always examine restrooms and areas to breastfeed comfortably.
Now if all stores can add expectant mothers and young family parking spots close to the store, that would be amazing!! I only encountered that in two states and it was only 2 spots. How very sad!!