The Washington Nationals Don't Want Moms to Nurse in a Stuffy Room

A Change.org petition signed by hundreds has led the Washington Nationals to reexamine the location they’ve designated for nursing mothers. The team has announced that women will soon have a much more appropriate place to feed their children and watch the game.

The petition, started by Katie Ray, was motivated by an uncomfortable experience she had at the Nationals’ season opener on Monday. When Ray went to feed her baby, she noticed that the event wasn’t nearly as family friendly as advertised.

From The Washington Post:

The conference room the organization typically offers for nursing, she said, is stuffy and warm, requiring the door to be open for air flow. She couldn’t watch the game in the room and, with the door open, it’s not particularly private.

According to Ray, the experience made her reluctant to return for any more games. But then she realized that there wasn’t a reason that nursing moms shouldn’t be able to enjoy the game, so she started a petition to get the Nationals’ attention and urge them to create a mothers’ room, which the park currently doesn’t have. While the conference room is available for the majority of the game and a family restroom (which doesn’t have a sitting area) can be utilized for feeding, the fans say it’s not enough. And the Nationals are listening.

“As part of planned 2015 season projects, we are in the preliminary stages of creating a state-of-the-art space to accommodate nursing mothers, and hope to have it completed and open by the All-Star break,” team officials wrote in an email. “In the interim, we will work to address the feedback in the petition, including ensuring the game is broadcast in the current space, the room’s use is clearly identified and that the temperature is more consistent.”

Ray is delighted by the news, saying that this will make the games a lot more fun and a lot less stressful, which is what baseball is all about. Well, that and eating overpriced hot dogs until you get sick. Hooray for the Washington Nationals!