What exactly is our mission, you ask?

Our mission began when Amy sent out an email that she had just returned from a three-hour trip to the Oregon Zoo with her two kids. I jokingly asked her which cold bench she had ended up nursing her daughter on. And thus our mission began . . .

To give you a little more insight, we live in Portland, home of the Oregon Zoo. We both have two children who are roughly the same ages, our oldest children are both three years old and our youngest children are both less then a year old. The youngest children are breastfed. Also important to note, is that we are both currently staying at home (I struggle with a term for myself: stay-at-home mom, or SAHM, and domestic engineer both make me a bit nauseous).

The zoo is an ideal place to take our kids. Plus, it's something we can do when on a solo outing with the kids. Our older children can explore all of the different animals and habitats while burning off some of their excess energy. Our younger children are content to look at all the sights that the zoo offers or drift off to sleep in their strollers. It's a wonderful place. In fact, both of our families are loyal zoo members.

While Portland is notoriously damp in the winter months, we Portlanders do not let this hamper our outdoor adventures. The city offers so many wonderful ways to explore the outside that a little rain never bothers us. (One of my daughter's favorite things to do is get on her rain boots and raincoat and look for puddles.) That being said, we go to zoo often – even in the winter.

Let us also note that Portland is very nursing-friendly. Oregon is actually ranked #1 for breastfeeding mothers, with more than 55% breastfeeding for 6 months or longer (see footnote 1). This is not surprising to us nursing mamas who live in the state. In fact, while I did not locate any statistics for Portland as a city, I can assure you that it is greater then the state's average.

I'm sharing all of this information with you because the one major issue with going to the zoo is nursing. Given Portland's breastfeeding-friendly status, it's a little odd. It is especially difficult in the damp winter months when stripping down and nursing your child on a wet, cold bench is something that neither mama nor baby really enjoy. In the summer, it is obviously not as traumatic to the body, but the zoo is as crowded as ever.

Now that our babes have entered the exciting phase where they love to explore the sights and sounds more (and as I explained, the zoo is wonderful for this), we mothers are typically left with one boob wildly exposed throughout much of the “nursing” session. Covering up to minimize distractions is not an option for either of our infants – like so many others - because they simply yank the blanket/cover off. But most importantly: Ensuring the safety of our older children during these boob-exposing nursing sessions. Now, our three year olds are both very well behaved, but they are only three after all.

As far as we know, the Oregon Zoo has not discriminated against a mom for nursing on zoo grounds (i.e. asking them to leave, cover-up, nurse in another location, etc.). In fact, nursing moms at the zoo do not have the option of going to a nursing room, so boobs and babes abound!

To be truthful, this was actually Amy's mission before it became mine. Before I made my comment to her about how brave she was to go to the zoo alone with her kids for three hours, she had already done some legwork on this matter. Once I made my comment, we talked and decided to take on this mission together.

In Amy's research, she discovered the zoo does allow nursing moms – who seek privacy- to use their First Aid rooms. Two of them are marked on the map (one at the entrance, which isn't conveniently located, and one in the middle of the zoo). There is an additional First Aid station that is not marked on the map. It took years to uncover where this was: In one of the administration buildings (but who can be sure when it’s not marked on the map or has any outward signs of its existence?!) All of these rooms, however, are locked. You have to find a zoo employee, who is not busy, to unlock the door.

Additionally, the First Aid room located in the middle of the zoo is in an area that is currently under construction (more on that later!). It is also connected to an open janitor's closet which is filled with cleaning supplies. This poses various issues for the mom who also has a toddler (or multiple other children) who is unoccupied while mom is nursing. The big stipulation for this is that if there is a medical emergency, which could be anything from heatstroke to a bee sting, that takes precedence. You would need to immediately vacate that space – nursing baby, stroller, other children in tow, etc. OUT.

Do we mention the phone booth size dimensions? Or should we point out that any mom in the world who takes a moment to breastfeed her baby is also going to do a diaper change at the same time. The only available surface to do this in the First Aid room is on the gurney. Does the thought of cross contamination come to mind? ‘Nuff said.

Unfortunately, the Oregon Zoo is not alone in not providing a nursing room at their zoo. In 2001 Utah's Hogle Zoo became the first zoo in the country to offer a nursing room. We found it kind of sad that zoos, of all places, do not provide this for families. It is our hope, and our mission, that the Oregon Zoo will become the second zoo to offer this to nursing mothers.

Two days ago, we sent a letter requesting a meeting to discuss the absence of a nursing room at the zoo to Oregon Zoo Director, Tony Vecchia and the zoo's deputy director of operations, Carmen Hannold. We hope that they are receptive to a meeting.

Why the blog? We wanted a place to share how this process evolves and what steps it will take to make this mission a reality.

Who knows, maybe you won't be seeing my boob during your next trip to the zoo...

1. www.oregonlive.com/kiddo/index.ssf/2008/08/oregon_ranks_no_1_in_breastfee.html