• by Tanya Gazdik , August 6, 2015

The Washington Nationals is taking family-friendly to a whole new level.

The MLB franchise is teaming with Lansinoh Laboratories, Inc to create the Lansinoh Nursing Lounge. Located just off the First Base Line, adjacent to Section 223, the Lansinoh Nursing Lounge at Nationals Park is designed to be a quiet and cool retreat for families with young children.

Founded by a breastfeeding mom, Lansinoh is a 30-year-old Alexandria, Va.-based company that makes breastfeeding products such as HPA Lanolin.

The lounge, which opened Aug. 6, includes comfortable chairs for mothers, TVs, diaper-changing stations, and a play area for toddlers.

"We are excited to unveil a dedicated and comfortable space for nursing mothers," says Valerie Camillo, chief revenue and marketing officer for the Washington Nationals, in a release. "We truly value the fantastic feedback fans offered us, and are grateful for Lansinoh's assistance in creating this space."

The lounge opening comes on the heels of the release of the 2015 Lansinoh Global Breastfeeding Survey which found 96% of women agree that breastfeeding is the best way to feed their children.

"As a local D.C.-area company and longtime advocate for moms and babies, we were thrilled to help design and support the creation of the Lansinoh Nursing Lounge,” says Lansinoh CEO Kevin Vyse-Peacock in a release. “Lansinoh is committed to providing breastfeeding solutions for every family and we are very happy to work with the Nationals, who continue to demonstrate their commitment to supporting all of their fans."

When it comes to breastfeeding in public, the reaction moms receive may be dependent on where they live. Overall, 38% of women surveyed said breastfeeding in public is "perfectly natural" and 32% said it was "embarrassing." In the U.S., 67% of moms said breastfeeding in public is "perfectly natural," a 10 percentage point climb from 2014. Despite the higher acceptance rate, 25% of women in the U.S. said they had experienced criticism or prejudice for breastfeeding in public. This was higher than the average for prejudice overall (18%). 

"The results show that we are making progress and attitudes about breastfeeding are changing around the world. But we still have work to do,” Vyse-Peacock says.