No spare room for breast-pumping? Consider portable lactation station

Approximately 70% of employed mothers with children younger than age 3 work full time, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One-third of these mothers return to work within three months after birth and two-thirds are back within six months.

Many of those new moms breastfeed their babies.

Do you have a place where an employee can pump breast milk?

By law, you need one, and it can’t be a rest room.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 amended the Fair Labor Standards Act and requires employers to provide “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from co-workers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.”

If you don’t have a spare room or want to dodge the renovation costs of creating such a room, there is an alternative: a movable breast-pumping pod known as the Mamava Lactation Station.

The free-standing pod, invented by two moms, Christine Dodson and Sascha Mayer, of Burlington, Vt., features a fold-down Corian table and Corian seating for easy cleaning, a power outlet and plenty of quiet space.

When the unit is not needed, it can be rolled into storage until there is another employee who wants to use it. An employer is not obligated to maintain a permanent, dedicated  space for nursing mothers.

Mayer said the units can be installed in about an hour and a half, and can be skinned with sponsorship branding and/or changeable advertising graphics.

The Mamava Lactation Station debuted at the Burlington International Airport and there are others set up at a number of college campuses as well as a Veterans Affairs facility in Tucson, Ariz.

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Mamava Lactation Station

•  Cost: $11,250
•  Shipping and installation: $500 to $1,500, depending on the location. (Although assembly can be done by your facilities person)
•  Footprint: 4-feet X 8-feet-3-inches
•  Weight: 600 pounds
•  Walls: Eco-Certified composite material
•  Electric: UL-approved 20-amp circuit
•  More info: www.mamava.com