Lactation Pods Provide Space for Working Moms to Nurse at Events

The Phoenix Convention Center in January added two lactation pods from Mamava to provide space for working mothers to nurse.

Reflecting a growing movement to better accommodate working mothers at events, meeting planners have been securing rooms at the Phoenix Convention Center exclusively for nursing mothers over the past several years, according to Eric George.

“They would provide that as an amenity for their attendees,” said George, who serves as venue manager at the center. “It just seemed like it was coming up more and more frequently.”

In January, Phoenix Convention Center unveiled two new additions to its North and West buildings that will more comfortably serve the needs of nursing mothers — Mamava lactation pods. The lactation rooms, which are popping up in common areas at airports, sporting venues, and convention centers — there are currently more than 450 around the U.S. — provide an ADA-accessible, private space for mothers that can be unlocked using an app. Phoenix Convention Center’s pods feature desert murals designed by the center’s in-house planning graphic designer, Diana Moissonnier, to mirror the Arizona landscape.

Mamava provides venues with statistics on how frequently the lactation rooms are used, and according to George, the two spaces were used 37 times within the first 30 days of installation.

The two Mamova pods also give planners back space at the center that they had previously reserved for nursing mothers for “event-related activities,” George said.

Casey Gale is an associate editor at Convene.