West Edmonton Mall - A Guide to Nursing

So I had Archer in late April, which means the hot hot months of summer had me cooped up in the house. And there was more than once where I decided to escape to a mall in order to enjoy the sweet sweet air conditioning. I imagine that people having babies in the fall will have the exact same experience escaping the cold. In my exploring, I have feel like I've learned a thing or two about nursing and diaper changes in the mall. I saw women nursing everywhere the last time I was there, and maybe they didn't know about the better options that are there. So I'm sharing my knowledge.

The most important place to know about, in my opinion is Simons. There is an elevator and a staircase in the back corner of the store. When you go up one level, there is a convenient set of quiet and clean bathrooms. Outside the bathrooms are two great options for breastfeeding: some benches just outside, and an actual mother's room just as you're heading into the women's washroom. The mother's room has some nice chairs for nursing and a big changing station. It's private, not tons of people know of it, and I haven't come across it stinking yet.

The mall has jumped on the great train of thought to provide a couple of places for moms to feed and change babies. If you go here, it shows all of the bathrooms in the mall, but not all of them are good options for moms. Here is the rundown:

• Avoid the Food Court washrooms, especially the ones in phase 3. These are the busiest, stinkiest washrooms in the building and are a definite no for nursing. Maybe a quick change can happen, but for the most part they are gross. 
• If you can't make it to Simons, head to the ice palace. On the main level, the washrooms have a mother's room. This is the golden find, as long as it's unoccupied. You ring security to let you in, and it's your own private room with a decent nursing chair, change station, plus toilet and sink for you. Nothing fancy, but it's a great option, and everybody gets their needs taken care of. 
• Upstairs at the ice palace washroom (tucked in behind anthropologie) is a newly renovated bathroom with a fairly big mom area. It has 3 decent nursing chairs that are mostly tucked away, 2 change stations, a sink and a tv to keep you entertained while nursing. It's decently clean (though I can't speak for weekends) and is a totally acceptable space. There are 2 downers to this one: if all the chairs are being used, you'd be touching knees with your neighbour and have nowhere close for your stroller. The second is that it is a very distracting area. You hear all the jet powered hand dryers from the bathroom, TV and other moms. My 6 month old was too distracted to feed, but I'm sure if he'd been hungry enough he would have gotten down to business. I also wonder if it would get stinky on weekends, as the connected bathroom is very busy.
• I haven't visited the washrooms in phase one on the second floor. I'm always on the main floor, and there is no elevator close by to use with a stroller, so I'm not sure if there's a good resource there or not. 

Also in the Ice Palace vicinity is the entrance to Galaxyland. Go down the hallway past the Body Shop and there is a massive collection of benches in front of the entrance to the park. I'm not sure if it would be crazy on weekends, but when I was there it was pretty private, with padded benches galore.

Phase 1 is almost always less busy. If you can turn down the hallway towards Sears, there are a number of benches and seating areas where you can get comfortable. Privacy level is low, but there are some padded benches with backs, so that's a bonus.

In conclusion, I'd like to thank all the architects, interior designers and mall owners who are trying to keep us moms in mind. So here are a couple of things that should be kept in mind when designing them:

• If the bathroom you're renovating tends to smell like... bathroom a lot, then please try to separate the airflow somehow between the nursing area and the main bathroom. I have been in one or two that STINK. No one wants to sit in that for longer than they need to, nevermind eat in it. It doesn't matter how pretty it looks if it stinks. 
• If you want to keep the nursing area easily in view for safety's sake, can you think of putting in some rotating chairs? The nursing stations at Southgate Mall  have this feature and it's wonderful. You can face the corner, have some privacy and not see all the people coming and going doing their business, which can also distract baby. You can sort of pretend like you're in your own little room, even if you're not completely. 
• Try to think about the arm-height of the chairs that you're purchasing for the area. I prefer a mid-height arm in order to help support my own arm, but I think the important thing to realize is that chair arms that are high will pretty much never be helpful to a nursing mother. It mostly just confines the space that both you and your child have to move around in. So lower is better than higher, I think for most moms. 

So that's all my knowledge. I hope somebody stumbles across this and finds it useful someday!