Where can new moms go to feel the love? How about Philadelphia International Airport’s lactation pods.

Breast-feeding may be natural, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Women who work outside the home or travel for work often struggle to find the time or place to pump their milk or feed their baby. A little support would be welcome. A kind word or two.

In Philly, women are finding them — quite a few words, in fact — in an unexpected locale.

At Philadelphia International Airport.

Fellow nursing mothers have been papering the walls of the lactation pods in the airport’s terminals with Post-its and letters of encouragement for other women who are facing their same challenges.

“You are doing an AMAZING job! Keep your head held high, Mama,” read a pink Post-it signed “Abby’s mom” in the pod by the food court in the airport’s B/C connector.

“Moved to tears by this! Being a mom is so hard! We got this!!” wrote Mom of 2.

“You are crushing it, mama!” said one bright orange note.

And there are lots of notes of appreciation, too.

“I want you mamas to know how much this wall of notes meant to me,” wrote Mom to Natalie. “5-hr delay. 1st time away from my 10 mth old. This kindness, love and shared experience and space made all the difference.”

The airport has four lactation pods, a permanent lactation suite near Connector B/C near the food court and several movable Minute Suites that can be used for free by nursing mothers.

The pods’ impromptu galleries of maternal solidarity have been quietly going strong among traveling moms for some time now at the airport.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia artist turns spilt breastmilk into art

“When they get too filled up, we do remove some (of the postings) so there’s space for more,” said Leah Douglas, the airport’s director of guest services.

Since 2015, nursing mothers have been able to request the use of the airport Minute Suites at no charge to pump milk or breast-feed, a few years before medium and large airports were required to provide such accommodations by federal law. Smaller airports now must do so as well. Similar legislation has been passed for workplaces. Last fall, the Philly airport built its first permanent nursing room.

In 2018, it installed its first lactation pod, and since has added the movable units, where the notes have been appearing.

And not just in Philly.

“The notes of encouragement have become a national trend we are seeing across the United States,” said Ann Pechaver, spokeswoman for Mamava, the Vermont company that invented and manufactures the pods. “(It’s) an amazing sisterhood of mothers supporting each other as they tackle the challenges of pumping breast milk on the go.”

The Mamava pods are also in businesses and other public spaces like museums, train stations, and sports arenas. In Philly, the pods’ locations include 30th Street Station, the Wells Fargo Center, the Philadelphia Zoo, and Temple University.

Mamava cofounder Sascha Mayer said when they first were designing their pods, they noticed existing lactation rooms would often have sign-in books for mothers to leave each other messages. So Mamava printed up notepads they left in newly installed pods.

“As those ran out, people would bring in their own notes and stick them up,” she said. “And that became a kind of thing.”

Women have long supported each other in matters like child-rearing and nursing. Still, there are times new mothers can feel isolated and unseen, Mayer said. “And then you enter this little oasis where you’re recognized for this great thing that you’re doing in life at that time.”

Apparently a lot of other people think so, too. Someone posted a photo of the inside of one of the Philly airport lactation pods recently on the Philadelphia Reddit. It got over 1,500 up-votes and lots of comments.

“This fully made me cry. I pumped for 16 months, this is wonderful,” wrote distriose.

“So much respect,” said hcyvyj.

“Faith in humanity is restored,” wrote Frangi-Pani.

“Damn, this is heartwarming,” phlwhyamihere, a self-described “dude,” said.

And this from mother-to-be sugar-high: “I’m currently pregnant and there are so many aspects of having a baby that are exciting yet daunting. Thank you for sharing this — I’m really comforted knowing that I’ll someday read these notes in person!”