PLATTSBURGH — A new, private space for breastfeeding mothers has opened in the Champlain Centre Mall.
The “Mamava Lactation Pod” can now be found inside the mall’s #7 entrance near Kohl’s.
“We are so excited to be able to add this Mamava pod here for moms to use and parents to use, just as a convenient place,” Lisa Getty, general manager of the Champlain Centre Mall, said at a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday.
“They are always welcome to nurse babies anywhere in the mall, but this is a nice, convenient, clean and more private place for those who wish to use it, and it’s super easy to use.”
The lactation pod was designed, engineered and assembled by Mamava in Burlington, Vt.
The pod cost $28,000 but it was installed in collaboration with a Clinton County Health Department’s Breastfeeding, Chestfeeding and Lactation Friendly, NY grant.
FREE APP
Those wanting to access the pod can do so through the free Mamava app, which helps parents find lactation spaces – not just Mamava pods – wherever they go. For those not wanting to use the app, there’s also a code that can be punched into a keypad for access. When the pod is in use, mothers can lock the door from the inside with a deadbolt lock for extra security.
The app also allows users to see when the pod is or isn’t available and will send notifications to let them know when it is ready to use.
The app opens the pod and allows parents to customize the lighting and airflow, as well as listen to soothing sounds. The pod is equipped with seven-foot solid walls, easy-to-clean surfaces, comfortable benches, ventilation fans, a locking door and complete wheelchair accessibility.
Paige Feeser, a government account executive with Mamava, said their pods are intentionally designed to be easily cleaned and maintained.
“It was manufactured with no absorbent materials,” Feeser said.
“There is no fabric on the floor, on the walls, because breastfeeding is a biological function, it can get messy. So we wanted to make sure that this pod can be easily wiped down with the same cleaners that the mall is already using to help keep this clean.”
Feeser said Mamava had been in talks with the Clinton County Health Department about their desire to increase lactation spaces in the area and how to do it since 2018. Through grant funding and support, the health department and its breastfeeding coalition of partners first placed a Mamava pod in Franklin County at the Tupper Lake Wild Center last year.
Now, Champlain Centre Mall is the department’s second location and first public pod in Clinton County.
Town of Plattsburgh Supervisor Michael Cashman said he regularly gets questions from the community on where they can find available, safe lactation places. He said the lactation pod being located in the town center was a good fit.
“This is a simple place to direct people (to) in the town center. We have visitors, locally, regionally and internationally, that come to this community space, and the mall continues to lead in so many ways,” Cashman said.
“We want to thank you for your leadership, because this could have gone anywhere, but here in the town center, it truly will become a resource well beyond just the mall, it will be a beacon that will attract people to come to as well.”
CRITICAL FOR RURAL AREAS
Feeser said it is so important to ensure pods like theirs are available in rural areas like Clinton and Franklin Counties.
“It is so critical, particularly in rural parts of our country, especially when supports for breastfeeding, whether it’s lactation, space infrastructure, access to counseling and support, information about how to properly go through your breastfeeding journey up through 12 months is not always there,” Feeser said.
“To have a department, like the Clinton County Health Department, doing so many different programs, including adding public spaces, is just one of many critical steps they can take to show that breastfeeding is important, that they should be able to go wherever they need to to breastfeed and do so comfortably, whether it’s out on one of these benches or here in one of our pods.”