The Mamava Lactation Pod in CSUN’s Bayramian Hall. Photo courtesy of CSUN’s Physical Plant Management.

California State University, Northridge has installed its first lactation pod to provide a safe and comfortable place for nursing parents to breastfeed or pump their breast milk.

The university will celebrate the grand opening of the Mamava Lactation Pod in Bayramian Hall, located on the west side of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge, at 2 p.m. on Monday, March 28.

“It is important for everyone to have a safe space to pump without the worry about privacy, it being clean, or having to use the restroom to pump,” said Cassidy Butow, administrative coordinator for CSUN’s Institute for Community Health and Wellbeing, which was responsible for setting up the pod.

Butow said university officials realized that being a new parent “can be challenging.” To ease some of the stress, Butow and her team wanted to remove the “where?” from the list of questions that parents have to face when planning pumping/feeding sessions while on the CSUN campus.

“This is only the beginning of how accessible we would like lactation spaces at CSUN to be,” Butow said, noting that the university has designated places across the campus for nursing parents. “But the lactation pod is more convenient.”

The purchase of the pod was supported by student campus quality fees, Butow said.

To access the pod, parents must download the Mamava app on their smartphones. The pod is available first come, first serve. Parents can unlock the pod with the app, and even use the app to adjust the lighting and ventilation of the pod. The lactation pod looks like a small camping trailer and offers nursing parents complete privacy and has electrical outlets to accommodate electric breast pumps. HWB also has manual breast pumps and other lactation supplies available.

For more information about the lactation pod and other available lactation spaces on campus, visit csun.edu/wellbeing or contact HWB at wellbeing@csun.edu or (818) 677-7715.

Institute for Community Health and Wellbeing, Lactation Pod, Nursing Parents