Thanks to the Friendly Airports for Mothers Act (FAM) passed in 2018, the number of private breastfeeding pods available to the general public has steadily increased over the last year. Passed as part of a comprehensive Federal Aviation Administration funding package, the FAM Act requires the nation's 61 "large and medium hub airports" to provide a private lactation area beyond the security zone of every airport terminal. 

According to Mamava, a lactation pod manufacturer, the act requires that these lactation areas have a locking door, include a place to sit, and be accessible and usable by people with disabilities. The act also requires each pod to offer a table or flat surface as well as an electrical outlet and a sink or specialized sanitizing equipment. The act also requires that these spaces not be located within bathrooms. 

Over the last year, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has installed at least 28 Mamava pods across its various facilities, including 12 pods at John F. Kennedy Airport, nine pods at Newark Liberty International Airport, six pods at Laguardia Airport, and one pod at New York Stewart International Airport. A pod was also recently installed at Penn Station in New York City. 

And now that at least some travelers have come to expect these facilities, other companies and organizations have begun to install the pods, as well, including Walmart, which installed Mamava pods across three stories in Arkansas, Arizona, and Vermont earlier this year. 

Describing the improved transportation facilities, Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole told New York City's NBC affiliate, “With the Port Authority in the midst of comprehensive airport redevelopment, any amenity that makes the travel experience better for nursing mothers is an important component of that modernization.” 

Sascha Mayer, co-founder and CEO of Mamava, added, “We believe that all mothers deserve a clean, comfortable and dignified place to use a breast pump or breast-feed distraction-free—anywhere, anytime.”