Mother expressing milk in Heathrow Airport baby change room walked in on by male attendant

A breastfeeding mother has shared her frustration after being instructed to express milk in an airport’s baby changing room, only to have a male attendant walk in.

Sophie McBain, a British journalist, was travelling through Heathrow Airport when she asked staff if there was a location where she could use her electric breast milk pump in private.

Sharing the encounter on Twitter last Sunday, McBain said she was told to use a baby changing room.

“So I used it, feeling a bit bad to be occupying the room for 20mins but I was really uncomfortable and needed to do this,” she tweeted the airport.

RELATED: New Zealand mum kicked off bus for breastfeeding

The humiliating situation raised a number of questions for McBain, including why a female attendant wasn’t sent instead of a man, and why the airport didn’t have a room where mothers could express milk without worrying about being disturbed.

McBain told her followers she decided to contact Heathrow publicly on Twitter, as well as through a direct message, because incidents like these might deter fellow mums from breastfeeding their children as long as they intended to.

The initial response she received from Heathrow Airport stated that it was “normal practice” to have a male bathroom attendant. 

Heathrow Airport has since apologised to Sophie McBain. (image: AAP)

It also said the staffer’s attempt to access the room was a standard practice “if he had not heard any response from requests to enter”, because it might have been a prank.

“[W]hile it was uncomfortable it was not entirely his fault for entering after warning,” the email added.

McBain said the response saddened her because it was symptomatic of the lack of consideration given to the needs of breastfeeding travellers. 

“To explain why I was upset I compared it to someone bursting in on your while you are on the toilet and then calmly telling you, while your pants are still round your ankles, that you are hogging the public bathroom,” McBain explained on Twitter.

“Also, sticking your breasts into an electric breast pump is so undignified looking I don’t even like it when my husband sees me doing it. Why would I want strangers to see this?”

LISTEN: Our Honey Mums podcast discusses some interesting new research on breastfeeding. (Post continues.)

Heathrow Airport has since sent an apology to McBain, acknowledging the need for an “additional private and comfortable area” for customers who need to express milk and breastfeed.

McBain isn’t the first mother to speak out about the lack of facilities or consideration for breastfeeding travellers.

Just last month, US mum Sarah Salow was stunned when American Airlines staff told her she’d have to pay $AU195 to check in eight bags of expressed breast milk.

Before the flight, Salow had been assured her milk and nappy bags would be exempt from her carry-on luggage weight limit.

The airline later apologised, saying the incident was a mistake on its part.