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Milk Truck Mobile Breastfeeding Vehicle: Is it Necessary? Will It Work?
Mobile breastfeeding milk truck
Could a Milk Truck be coming to your city soon? The Milk Truck on-call mobile breastfeeding vehicle could possibly be coming to nursing moms in Pittsburgh, if performance artist Jill Miller is able to make her vision a reality.
Miller wants to buy an ice cream truck and outfit it with a giant breast on top – providing a service that nursing moms could call for when they need a private place to breastfeed.
The idea came about to fill the need for mothers who nurse to have a private space to do so without the public passing judgment. One call to the Milk Truck and it would be en route for a little private nursing session.
Miller is working on the startup by looking to get $10,000 in funding on Kickstarter.
Miller explains:
“We’re tired of hearing stories about women being asked to leave restaurants or “cover up” with a blanket while doing something as simple as feeding a baby. But we’re not the type to complain; we’re the type to take action. Which leads us to…The Milk Truck.
When a woman finds herself in a situation where she is discouraged, harassed, or unwelcome to breastfeed her baby in public, she summons The Milk Truck. The truck arrives to the location of the woman in need and provides her with a shelter for feeding her baby. The woman feeds her child, the shopkeeper who harassed her feels like a dweeb, and the truck does what it does best – creates a spectacle. (Which is, incidently, the very thing that the shopkeeper thought he was trying to avoid. Alas, some people have to learn the hard way.)”
Some questions come to mind over this proposed milk truck. First, how does one summon this truck quickly enough to have it arrive for a baby that needs to be breastfed right away? And second, logistically, how can one truck meet the needs of many women who may need its services?
Maybe I’m spoiled by living in a liberal city where public breastfeeding is no big deal, but I can’t imagine that people would be so uncomfortable by doing (yes, I’ll say it) one of the most natural things in the world. Even draping a blanket for a little extra privacy for mother and baby would seem adequate, removing the need for an on-call mobile breastfeeding unit to be deployed.
Do you think the Milk Truck is necessary? Would it even work logistically?
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9 Comments
Sara commented on Jul 03 11 at 11:26 pmThe way to solve the problem is not to have women breastfeed in special places hidden from view. This won’t help the problem, it’s just obnoxious.
Autoclave239 commented on Jul 03 11 at 11:30 pmYeah, I appreciate the sentiment, but I doubt this is going to fix anything. More public breastfeeding along with the rightful vilification of those who harass BFing moms is what is needed most.
mbaker commented on Jul 04 11 at 5:51 pmI live in a city that is not liberal and I haven’t had any problem with breastfeeding in public.
mrsculpepper commented on Jul 04 11 at 8:24 pmLogistically this won’t work for most moms but as a PR tool its a GREAT idea. I love the idea of shaming companies that do wrong by women and babies. Unfortunately the breast pictured looks more like a cupcake so I hope the breasts [and can we please have two of those btw ;) ]become more realistic. On the other hand I agree with the above commenter that it’s also vital that men, women and children SEE breastfeeding in order to normalize it. So hiding every nursing pair away in a private place can’t be the only or even the primary strategy we employ to make breastfeeding easier.
bob commented on Jul 05 11 at 8:57 amThe world might not end as long as that breast isn’t made of cake.
The Milk Truck commented on Jul 06 11 at 1:47 pmThe truck is meant to create an outdoor nursing space in front of the offending business. A woman will have the opportunity to nurse or use a changing table inside the truck IF she wants, but our plans are to occupy the outdoor space in front of the establishment in order to create a public dialogue about nursing rights. We are there to draw attention and proudly nurse our babies, not hide out in the truck.
If you live in a liberal city where nursing in public isn’t an issue, you’re lucky. Sadly, nursing discrimination happens on a regular basis – just last week a bus driver in Detroit attempted to kick a nursing mother off of the bus for nursing her infant. She was covered up, not that it matters. She has the legal right to do it. http://www.longislandpress.com/2011/07/06/breastfeeding-incidents-cause-mothers-to-speak-out/
The Milk Truck is an art project that will bring the public into a dialogue about breastfeeding rights. It’s a service to women in part – but it’s really an activist art work. Watch the Kickstarter video and read the text. It’s pretty clear.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jillmiller/the-milk-truckGet in touch with us on Facebook too!
Thanks for your time and interest – love the conversation!
Jill
The Milk Truck
sarah james commented on Jul 06 11 at 9:49 pmLove the idea but I wonder if taking the breastfeeding woman out of the situation and hiding her and her baby away is defeating the purpose a bit, giving the shop keeper what they want? Maybe it would be better to have a group of women arrive on the scene and support the breast feeding woman, taking up the argument for breast feeding in public? I don’t know, maybe this would be too confrontational, I’ve been lucky, I’ve had four babies and have never had a problem breast feeding in public. Anyway great to see someone addressing the issue.
Amaryllis commented on Jul 18 11 at 11:24 amSounds like something that will attract a lot of parking tickets, police intervention, and traffic jams.
The “dialog” about breastfeeding is that unless you are a “lactivist” people don’t want to be bothered with it. You had the baby. You deal with it.
Amensej commented on Nov 25 11 at 1:27 pmI’d say this would b a great idea (minus the huge boob on top) for the smaller employers who want to help the BFing moms, but cant afford to build a separate space for them to pump. I personally would have loved a warm truck with a comfortable chair to pump in when I had my first. The place i worked at was a small restaraunt and there was no where i could go, other than my car (in the middle of Jan. in SD) to go pump. due to freezing conditions, etc I only made it to 5 months with my oldest son.
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