Baseball Terms for Breastfeeding Moms

Baseball is America’s favorite pastime; breastfeeding, we’d argue, is babies’. At Mamava, we’re big fans of both. We “root, root, root” for the home team (and cheer extra loud for the Cubs, Brewers, Red Sox, Oakland A's, Mets, Astros, and Rockies, who all play in stadiums that support moms with Mamava pods). We’ve also reimagined a bunch of ballpark terms to describe the most salient breastfeeding situations. 

Balk

Baseball: When a pitcher makes an illegal motion—typically, pretending to throw the ball when he has no intention of doing so.

Breastfeeding: When you offer the boob and baby refuses. 

Bunt

Baseball: When a batter holds the bat out and just barely taps the ball instead of taking a full swing. 

Breastfeeding: When the kid rams your chest with their head, like a small goat. Think: rooting gone wild.

Double play 

Baseball: A field play that yields two outs.

Breastfeeding: When a baby nurses on one side, then the other.

Error

Baseball: A mistake in the field that allows a batter to get to the next base. 

Breastfeeding: Arriving at work with one or more breast pump parts still at home.

Foul ball

Baseball: A ball that’s hit outside of fair play. 

Breastfeeding: A hard, painful glob of dried milk that clogs your ducts.

Hit and run

Baseball: When a base runner takes off as soon as the pitch is released and the batter swings, no matter the pitch.

Breastfeeding: When a quick, forceful feeding is followed by an explosive, leaky diaper.

Homerun

Baseball: When a batter hits the ball and tags all the bases to score a run.

Breastfeeding: When you rush back to baby after a girls’ dinner out because it’s been three-and-a-half hours and you’re without your pump. 

Relay

Baseball: When one fielder throws the ball to another fielder who, in turn, tosses it over to another.  

Breastfeeding: When you feed the kid, then hand them off to someone else to close the deal with a diaper change and sleep-inducing rock. 

Second base

Baseball: The base after first and before third.

Breastfeeding: Uh-uh. Not happening. Mama’s touched out.

Mamava designs solutions to empower breastfeeding and pumping parents on the go, like our freestanding lactation pods, Mamava’s lactation space locator app, and other helpful resources.

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