Steelers Fan Petitions for Better Facilities for Nursing Mothers at Heinz Field
The mother described her experience at the stadium as "miserable."
— -- One football fan is challenging an NFL team to provide better accommodations for nursing mothers.
Stephanie Barnhart, an editor for parenting resource Mommy Nearest, started a petition asking for better facilities for nursing moms at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. The change.org petition has received over 2,800 signatures.
Barnhart is a self-described die-hard Steelers fan, and even though she currently resides in New York City, the 34-year-old mother said she makes frequent trips to Pittsburgh to watch her favorite team play during football season.
After her son Max was born in July 2012, Barnhart was excited to head back to the stadium to watch the Steelers play in the fall, but she said her experience was much different as a new mother.
In her petition, Barnhart describes the difficulties she faced inside Heinz Field as a mother who was breastfeeding, which included trying not to drop her breast pump in the "cramped stall," and attempting to make sure nothing from the bathroom contaminated her milk, all while feeling pressured to hurry up as a "growing line of women waiting for the toilet wondered loudly what was taking [her] so long."
"I tried to plan it out the best as I could, but between tailgating and the length of a game, there is going to be a time where you're going to have to pump," Barnhart told ABC News.
"I'm pretty much a tough person, but it was uncomfortable and it was miserable," Barnhart said of her experience.
Barnhart's son is now almost 3 and a half, and while the mother said she is happy that Max will have "fond memories" at Heinz Field as he grows up, her own memories of the football stadium have been tainted from her experience as a breastfeeding mother.
"Heinz Field will always remind me of being frustrated and humiliated as I tried to produce food for my child," Barnhart wrote on the petition.
Barnhart said she hopes that the Steelers will follow in the footsteps of other major sports teams, such as the Washington Nationals baseball team, which installed a fully dedicated space for nursing mothers in its Nationals Park in August that includes air-conditioning, TVs, comfortable chairs, diaper changing stations, electrical outlets and more.
"It's just a simple fix to add a private area for females to do stuff like this," Barnhart said.
While other major sports teams have provided similar accommodations for nursing mothers in their parks, the only National Football League team that has provided such accommodations is the Minnesota Vikings, which just recently installed two Mamava lactation suites in the TCF Bank Stadium.
Each Mamava lactation suite is a "self-contained, mobile pods with comfortable benches, an electrical outlet for plugging in a breast pump and a door that can be locked for privacy," according to a Vikings press release.
Mamava co-founder Sascha Mayer said that the lactation suites have been very well received at the Vikings stadium, and that she hopes that more sports arenas will follow suit to give mothers an option that will make them feel as comfortable as possible while nursing at a stadium.
Mayer revealed that Mamava spoke with a Steelers representative after the company saw Barnhart's petition, but Steelers officials stated they were "working on some other solutions."
"We have listened to a lot of female fans and understand their concerns," the Steelers told ABC News in a statement regarding Barnhart's petition.
There are 11 locations where mothers have the option to nurse inside of Heinz Field, according to Burt Lauten, the Steelers' communications coordinator, noting that those locations include six guarded family restrooms and five first-aid rooms that will "provide a private space for mothers who need to breastfeed."
Lauten also noted that the family restrooms inside of Heinz Field are being updated in the "near future" to include floor coverings, power installations, and furniture for each family restroom.
"We continue to look for ways to make this a safe and clean environment for our women patrons who are in need of nursing stations, and hopefully this is a positive step moving forward," Lauten said.
Barnhart said she is set to meet with Steelers officials ahead of the Nov. 8 game, during which she hopes to advocate for more private and comfortable accommodations for nursing mothers.
"I think that it would be a positive simple fix that can easily be implemented," Barnhart said.
