milkspot musings — Milkspot

Want some advice?

As parents we get plenty of advice, from friends family and surprisingly a lot of strangers. I am not here to force my opinions on you. Instead, milkspot musings is intended to be a place for parents to come and find information to help them navigate the crazy world of parenting in the crazy city of New York, with a little bit of mine and some other NYC parent's experiences thrown in for good measure. If there is anything you want me to talk about let me know, I would love to hear from you!

Please don't judge

No one should be judged or made to feel ashamed of how they choose to raise their baby. It’s all a personal choice and if I’ve learnt nothing else since becoming a mother, what works for one baby doesn’t necessarily work for another. No one is an expert, we’re all just trying to figure out what works best for our families! So if I'm talking about a topic and it's not your thing, please be kind and if you can't be kind please just move on by.

I am going to talk about Breastfeeding

Yup, I'm going to talk about it. We're just at the end of World Breastfeeding Week. It's been amazing to see all the stories being shared on social media of people's journey's and experiences, the good and the bad, it is all raising awareness. It only very recently finally became legal to breastfeed in public in all 50 states, after new laws passed in the last two remaining States, Idaho and Utah.

I am a breastfeeding mama and an advocate for normalizing breastfeeding. But, as I previously said, there is absolutely no judgement here to as to how you chose to feed your child. And with regards to the map, all the spots included are meant to be feeding friendly, whether you are a breastfeeding mama or not!

If you are a breastfeeding mama though and you are looking for full privacy, look for the 'Private spots for nursing' on the milkspot map where you can feel comfortable and stress free, with no prying eyes while you feed or pump.

Come back soon, next time i'll be talking a little bit more about the milkspot map.

Hello, I'm Lee

I grew up in England and moved to NYC for work in 2008. In 2012 I met my American husband in a dive bar in Brooklyn. We got married in the hills of Tuscany in 2015 and became first time parents to Jack in July 2017.

Navigating NYC as a first time mum was daunting to say the least (don't even get me started on navigating the subway system). The first time I breastfed Jack in public was on a bench with lots of foot traffic nearby. I was trying to get him to latch on when a lady came up to tell me that she had heard him crying and that he was hungry. Boob out, struggling with the nursing cover, red faced and sweaty I thanked her for her (unsolicited) help and struck that park bench off as a place to nurse in the future.

Unfortunately, I did nurse there again and plenty of other places I would have preferred not to, such bus stops, stoops and sat on the floor in a mall just to name a few. Just because there is the legal right to breastfeed anywhere in New York state doesn't mean you necessarily want to breastfeed everywhere!

Milkspot started as a list on my phone of places where I knew I could go to with Jack when I was out and about, where I knew I would feel comfortable feeding him. Places where I knew I could go to clean him up if he needed a change. Places I knew I could pee and actually fit inside the stall with a stroller. After chatting with other parents, I realized they too had similar lists sometimes with additional needs such as places to pump, get water and dad friendly locations, but there was no place where all this was all consolidated and easily accessible for parents on the go. And so milkspot was born!

Whatever your needs for baby and you on the go in NYC, I hope milkspot helps you find it.

I would love to hear from you so please feel free to email me at anytime at hello@milk-spot.com.