Innovative nursing room offering comfort for outings with baby

When having a baby, life changes significantly. It is normal to feel anxious about raising a kid. Especially when going out with a baby, parents may feel even more worried about feeding, changing diapers and so on.

As in other countries, public nursing rooms are available where families with children often visit in Japan. However, privacy and usability issues are often present. In response to these issues, nursing rooms are evolving for more comfortable use.

About 80% of parents feel uncomfortable using a nursing room

According to a survey, 78.1% of mothers and fathers who have used a nursing room said they had experienced difficulties in breastfeeding or using a nursing room while on an outing. The most common reason for this was the “inability to find a nursing room or a suitable place for breastfeeding” (56.4%). In addition, 25.5% of respondents said there were no places to feed the baby when the father and baby were alone.

Nursing room facilities depend on the place, but sharing them with other parents is common. There is often breastfeeding space in nursing rooms, but it is usually separated by only curtains without locks and is off-limits to men.

Even when nursing rooms are open for all parents, some mothers feel uncomfortable using breastfeeding spaces because there is no lock and men are in the same room. Some cases have occurred where strangers have mistakenly or intentionally opened the curtains, which has raised privacy issues. On the other hand, fathers often hesitate to use a nursing room to avoid making other mothers feel uncomfortable.

These problems have arisen because many nursing rooms were designed for mothers. In Japan, parenting had been considered a woman’s duty for a long time, however, in recent years, more people think that both men and women should commit to child-rearing.

To meet the needs, nursing rooms are varying to be more comfortable to use for everyone.

Private movable nursing room “mamaro™”

One such example is mamaro™, which is a movable nursing room developed by Trim. It is completely private and can be locked from the inside. Sensors are installed to identify the visitors by their body temperature. If they stay for a long time without any movement, the security office is notified so that security guards can check for their safety. Additionally, monitors installed in the rooms provide childcare-related content and useful information when going out with children.

Moreover, from July, mamaro™ provides cushions to facilitate breastfeeding, disposable cushion covers for hygienic use and complementary nursing pads in cooperation with a baby product company, Pigeon. They are also working to educate the public so that people, regardless of gender, can use the nursing room comfortably.

The mobile, compact size makes installation relatively inexpensive and easy. Currently, more than 400 of them are available throughout the country. Check here to see where they are installed.

In present times when people value privacy more and seek a change in the mindset that parenting is a woman’s duty, it is essential to create an environment where everyone can feel safe and secure in raising their children.