Breastfeeding Friendly Place Awards

2025 Workplace Winner: Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific offers their employees three dedicated lactation rooms. These rooms have a height adjustable rolling table, a comfortable chair that can swivel and recline, a mini fridge for milk storage, outlets and a sink. The facility goes the extra mile by including expectant mothers parking out front, free water bottles in the room, sharpies for milk collection bags and cleaning supplies. Additionally, the breastfeeding policy is sent to employees when they request maternity leave.

2025 Public Space Winner: Pittsburgh International Airport

Pittsburgh International Airport has three nursing rooms located at: Concourse A near Gate A5, Concourse B near Gate B7, and Concourse D near Gate D4. The rooms include infant changing tables, a sink, a comfortable chair and ottoman, a bottle warmer, mirror, outlets, a diaper pail and adjustable calming lighting. Creating lactation rooms was one of the first initiatives by the airport’s CEO, Christina Cassotis, when she arrived in January 2015, three years before Congress passed the Friendly Airports for Mothers Act in 2018.

2025 Business Winner: OneValley at the Round House

OneValley at the Roundhouse is a coworking space which offers breastfeeding rooms for any of the space’s 100 members and employees. The mother's room is equipped with a small fridge, ample counter space, a comfortable chair and a rocking chair, side tables, outlets and a large sink. The space can be booked through the virtual calendar. Overall, the neutral tones, ambient lighting, live plants and visual art, contribute to its relaxing environment, an often-overlooked aspect that helps mothers' express milk.

Honorable Mention for Public Space: The Children's Museum

The Children's Museum was selected as the runner up this year for the public space category. The Children's Museum has two designated lactation rooms located in two buildings on site: the main museum and the MuseumLab, which is open to the public in the summer. Both rooms are equipped with: sinks, comfortable chairs, outlets, locking door, side table and small garbage, as well as a changing table and beautiful artwork. Bathrooms are conveniently located down the each hall, and rooms are cleaned and maintained daily. Separate from the designated spaces, the Children's Museum is equipped with several "quiet areas" throughout the museum. These little nooks are designed with parents in mind, to conveniently allow them to feed or tend to their babies, while still maintaining a close eye on their other children at play.

2024 Workplace Award Winner: Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank

The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank offers break times for their employees to express milk in a designated lactation room. Due to the need, the space was recently updated from a general "wellness room" to a designated lactation room. Small but mighty, this room is equipped with all of criteria necessary for an optimal pumping space (electrical outlets, a table, comfortable chair, sink, mini fridge). What makes the room stand out is its ambiance. This room was unique in that it incorporated dimmable lights, artwork, florals, and body care items such as lotion and nipple cream. Additionally, the space has complimentary snacks and beverages, which is also helpful to have on hand for lactating individuals.

2024 Public Space Winner: Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University touts 16 lactation rooms and three Mamava lactation pods campus-wide, and, mandates that every new facility built on university grounds include a lactation room. On CMU's website, people will find their detailed public breastfeeding policy and FAQs, along with a variety of resources for breastfeeding, pumping, emotional support, and more. Perhaps the most advanced feature of CMU’s accommodations is their interactive online tool that allows users to view every campus amenity on a 3D campus map, including gender-inclusive restrooms and lactation rooms. With one click, anyone can find the address, floor, room, building hours, and individual room features of a space. Individuals using CMU's campus can request a lactation room “key card” that provides access to all sites. The card is connected to an online booking system for those who wish to secure specific locations at designated times; for both faculty and students. Notably, the individual who nominated CMU for the Allegheny County Breastfeeding Friendly Place Awards, was a contractor for a one-day event. When she asked if there was a space she could pump, she was pleasantly surprised to learn how prioritized her needs were.

2023 Workplace Winner: AHN Wexford Hospital

The AHN Wexford Hospital offers break times for their employees to express milk in private rooms. These rooms have an electrical outlet for a breast pump, table, comfortable chair and offer a place where users can wash equipment. The hospital provides a freezer for milk storage. As a health care provider, AHN Wexford Hospital also makes its lactation staff available to support parents, as well as encouraged children to come during lunch breaks for feeding.

2023 Public Space Winner: Hello Neighbor (2023 Public Space Winner)

Hello Neighbor offers a calm, quiet space for all parents, visitors and employees, to nurse or express milk. Uniquely, the space dually serves as both a lactation and prayer room, with rugs and mats inside, to accommodate cultural norms for many of Pittsburgh’s immigrant communities. The space offers a side table, a dresser with lactation supplies (burping cloths, nipple cream, nursing pads), as well as local breastfeeding helplines and contacts, and pictures of common lactation holds and positioning.

2023 Small Business Winner: Wildman Chalmers Design

Wildman Chalmers Design offers a private space to express milk with access to an electrical unit, sink, chair and small sofa. Employees are provided a flexible schedule for lactation breaks and their breastfeeding policy is noted in their employee handout.

Honorable Mention

The University of Pittsburgh’s School of Nursing and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh received honorable mentions.

2023 Press Release Announcing this Year's Winners(PDF, 459KB)

2022 Workplace Winner: UPMC Baby Steps Maternity Program

The UPMC Baby Steps Maternity Program at the U.S. Steel Tower demonstrates compassion for both members and non-members by providing several designated private lactation rooms for employees to book sessions to pump upon their return to work. The program’s maternal health coaches provide education and support around the importance of breastfeeding. They also support the lactation center at UPMC Magee-Women's Hospital and help mothers select the right breast pump for them.

2022 Public Space Winner: Healthy Start

Healthy Start offers a comfortable, culturally relevant space for staff and visitors to pump breastmilk and feed their babies. The organization advocates on behalf of individuals who experience challenges in the workplace related to having adequate time for pumping. Healthy Start also offers educational classes and resources in the community.

Carnegie Science Center

The Carnegie Science Center clearly cares about giving nursing mothers a comfortable space to express their breast milk. Mothers and families who have used its breastfeeding rooms remark that they are “well kept,” “clearly marked” and “spacious.” One of the rooms is near the toddler-aged activities area, which makes it easy for families with multiple children to divide and conquer without missing out on any of the fun.

Pittsburgh Botanic Garden

The Pittsburgh Botanic Garden provides breastfeeding mothers with a beautiful, clean indoor space at its Visitors Center that allows for pumping or nursing of babies without having to cut a visit to one of Pittsburgh’s most beautiful attractions short. In terms of breastfeeding, Pittsburgh Botanical Garden’s slogan of “Inspiring People to Grow” could not be more appropriate.

2022 Press Release Announcing this Year's Winners(PDF, 163KB)

2021 Workplace Winner: RAND Corporation

The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND — nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest — promotes a work environment where staff feel welcomed and respected and that supports its staff’s work-life balance needs. To this end, RAND provides breastfeeding-friendly options in the workplace, including private health rooms for staff to express their milk, equipped with refrigerators for milk storage and a hospital-grade breast pump. In addition, RAND provides reimbursement of family costs incurred while traveling on business, including the shipping of breastmilk. Lastly, RAND offers health plans that provide support and education for lactating parents.

2021 Workplace Winner: Duquesne Light Company

Duquesne Light Company is a next-generation electric utility that delivers reliable and safe energy to more than half a million customers in southwestern Pennsylvania. The company is also dedicated to fostering a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace where all employees feel valued, respected and energized. One way they accomplish this is by offering separate lactation rooms at their downtown headquarters and locations in Woods Run and New Manchester. These rooms enable parents to express their milk in a safe and private space.

Honorable Mention

Pittsburgh Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center provides cutting edge healthcare. They use innovative procedures, high-tech equipment and the latest treatment methods to provide comprehensive medical care to pets. BluePearl recognizes that pets are part of the family. They honor the human-animal bond by providing the very best in advanced medical care for pets – including techniques that were once reserved exclusively for humans. They combine this expertise with a love for animals and the belief that kindness is the foundation of veterinary medicine. Their kindness is carried out all the way to their staff by providing nursing parents time breaks to express milk in private space. They have designated refrigerators for the storage of milk. BluePearl also complies with the state or local breastfeeding laws.