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Pumping milk for her child in a dark little bathroom isn't Rachel Ortiz's idea of a good time, but the 25-year-old mother of two has done it.

A new "lactation station" that opened Friday at the University of New Mexico Hospital means the UNM hospital technician won't have to go through that again.

The station - which cost less than $3,000 in donations from several groups - is a room with three hospital-quality electric breast pumps. It offers privacy for mothers, said Emilie Sebesta, an assistant professor in pediatrics who helped launch the station.

"The people I was really concerned about are people who don't have their own offices - nursing students, cafeteria workers," Sebesta said. "There's good evidence that when you don't have a place to pump, you just stop."

When Ortiz was nursing her son and working in retail, the bathroom was her only option - and a bad one at that.

"My milk lasted three or four weeks after I returned to work, then it ran out," Ortiz said. "Now that I have a room, there are other women to talk to and a lot of support. It's a lot easier."

Ortiz is now nursing her 4-month-old daughter and hopes to continue feeding her breast milk for at least a year.

"This will get me closer to my goal," Ortiz said. "Before they opened up this room, I wasn't sure I could do it."

Sebesta, who is breast-feeding her 21-month-old child, said it's not much fun to breast pump in a bathroom.

"You wouldn't eat lunch in a bathroom. Why would you pump milk for your child?" she said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends women breast-feed exclusively for six months and continue feeding the child breast milk with other foods for a full year or longer.

Sebesta hopes the station will inspire businesses and public buildings to offer the same thing.

"When mothers are able to pump for their child, they'll miss less work for sick days for their children later," Sebesta said.