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3rd Trimester
crogers19
member
RE: Breastfeeding is gross
crogers19
member
I have been meaning to post this for a while but I keep forgetting. Lately some of my girlfriends from back home (FL) have been sharing stories on facebook about women being harassed in public for breast feeding. For example, a women in a Target decided to sit down in between clothing racks to nurse her child. A young female employee came over and told her she could not do that there. The woman refused to stop mid-feeding and it resulted in the girl becoming increasingly rude and store management asking the woman to leave. Now personally I would have gone in the dressing room or something but this woman had rights. Here is a link to what your rights are in every state. Breast feeding mommies have LAWS that actually protect them, so know what they are!!!! check it out below.
this is from national conference of state legislatures
This discussion has been closed.
Re: RE: Breastfeeding is gross
Did you read about the group of moms who organized a Breastfeeding Sit-in and got together a bunch of moms to go to the same Target at a certain time and just start BFing!
https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2011/12/breastfeeding-at-target-moms-stage-national-demonstration/
Haha, NO I didnt see that! Good for them.
Thats a fantastic idea!
That Target thing was big around my way. There was a group of about six women that got together at our local target and sat in the cafe to breastfeed together. There is even a "milk truck" that drives around advocating for BFing that showed up to support them.
My DH and I had a discussion about it just yesterday. He has a lot to learn. I didn't agree with some of his views. Love the link, thank you
I just posted it to his FB page.
Just to play the devil's advocate here - she was sitting in between the clothing racks? As in, on the floor? I worked in retail for five years, and to be honest, I think anyone who sat on the floor for an extended period of time in the middle of the clothing section for ANY reason would probably have been asked to move. It seems like it would be a fire hazard. (I just read another article, and it sounds like she was indeed sitting in the middle of the floor between the clothing racks.)
Don't get me wrong; I think that women should be able to breastfeed in public without harassment, but I honestly have to wonder if the employees would've been less concerned about it if she weren't sitting directly in the middle of the floor. Target has a food court area and benches by the pharmacy. Either of those would've been a better option for her and for other customers, because she wouldn't have been in the way. I absolutely believe that breastfeeding mothers should have the right to breastfeed in public, but I also believe that other shoppers should have the right to shop for clothes without having to step over someone sitting in the middle of the floor.
I agree.
Exactly! The same woman went back during the sit-in that was staged later on and posted pictures online of herself breastfeeding on the floor in the middle of the racks. There are plenty of safe and public places for women to breastfeed, even at Target stores. Her sitting in middle of the section being obscured by tall clothing racks on all sides while holding an infant is a liability issue, not a breastfeeding harrassment issue. What if another customer or employee ran into her and her infant? People move through those sections with carts and one wrong turn would put a set of wheels in her lap. Would this same woman be filing a lawsuit against Target for injury? I'd guess yes, she probably would. Her choice of location was questionable at best and not the safest option for her infant, especially knowing there were plenty of other better options for her to care for and feed her child in the store.
I agree with this. I find it very difficult to see any legit reason for why she would need to sit on the floor in the middle of the aisles to nurse when EVERY single Target I have ever been in has multiple benches by both exits, the pharmacy and the food court area. Don't get me wrong I am all for bf'ing and I support that women shouldn't be harassed for bf'ing in public but if a diabetic got hungry and just popped a squat in the electronics department to eat a sandwich we would all think that was a little strange. You always hear that arguement about a breastfeeding mom saying "well I won't nurse my baby in a bathroom cause you wouldnt eat your meals in a bathroom..." yeah well I ALSO wouldnt eat my meals on the floor of a Target...at least the bathrooms are cleaned on a routine basis...Have you ever looked at the floor of a department store....ewwww
I had the same thought as @greeneyed_bride. Would it have been as much of a deal as it was had she sought out a chair or bench?
I second both of these ladies!
Having worked retail I know that many times the areas between the racks are narrow, hard to get through and not a good place to take a seat. It is a safety hazard for her to just take a settle in for a feeding session there. I'd hate to think of the injuries if someone hit the rack near her and had it fall- those suckers are VERY heavy and can be rather tippy.
Could she really not think of a better spot to BF?
Honestly I would have found a bench to sit on, whether it was in a dressing room or out in the open. Sitting on the floor just sounds uncomfortable. That's my 2 cents right there. But if you like breastfeeding on the floor then by all means go for it....I'm all for comfort though.
I get so annoyed with the whole NIP thing comes up, it's not like the woman is masturbating in the middle the store, she's feeding her child FFS. People need to grow up.
I think it's hard to say not witnessing the situation firsthand. It's a definite possibility that she was trying to make it a bigger deal than it needed to be. I had read she was backed up against a wall between some clothing racks.
That being said, depending on how old her infant was, sometimes it's easier to nurse on the floor versus in a chair/bench with no arms. Holding an infant up for 45 minutes can be quite exhausting, hence the existence of "the boppy." Plus you could argue that between the clothing racks was more covered versus on a bench in front of people. Perhaps she felt uneasy and didn't have a cover with her?
Again, I'll say that many of these situations are just lack of education. Anytime a breastfeeding mother interacts with someone who lacks experience it's a great opportunity for her to increase their knowledge about breastfeeding and the laws.
That story is not the point of why I posted this, but since thats where its going here is another piece of an article that describes the situation.
Hickman had a basket full of Christmas gifts when Noah awoke, hungry. The quickest way to quiet a baby who needs to eat is to feed him, so Hickman found a ?remote area of the store,? according to a Facebook reconstruction of events, covered up with a blanket and began nursing. Several employees asked her to relocate to a fitting room; one intimated that she could be cited for indecent exposure. No customers complained or apparently even saw Hickman nursing.
The next morning, Hickman called Target?s corporate headquarters and says she was told by guest relations ?just because it?s a woman?s legal right to nurse a baby in public doesn?t mean she should walk around the store flaunting it.? Outraged, Hickman vented to a group of fellow moms, one of whom suggested staging a nurse-in. ?Word spread,? says Hickman, a mother of four, ?kind of like a marathon race with a baton. I complained, then someone else complained, then someone else complained.?
since we dont know the whole story i dont think we should judge her. if it were me, and i just plopped down against a wall and an employee came up and politely said that she was concerned for my safety in the racks and offered to help me into a dressing room it wouldnt have been an issue. but honestly it sounds like she was met with nothing but rudeness which would make my stubborn personality stand my ground as well.
Agree to all three of these
This is why I always made sure I had my Ergo. Had no problem walking around NIP with either of the girls in that. They were being fed and I was comfortably covered up. win-win for all.
https://www.care2.com/causes/target-employees-harass-and-humiliate-breastfeeding-mom.html
https://www.bestforbabes.org/target-employees-bully-breastfeeding-mom-despite-corporate-policy
I was more comfortable breastfeeding my newborn sitting indian-style on the floor than I was sitting on a bench. Also, I understand having a screaming child in a public place and wanting to feed him ASAP, without having to go through the check-out line first and then search for a bench. The first time I went to Target on my own with the baby, he SCREAMED in the check-out line and I got SO many stares!
This. I get the the baby has to eat and shouldn't have to eat in the bathroom, but would YOU plop down and eat your lunch on the floor in the middle of the clothing racks? No. She could have gone into the fitting room or to the cafe or sat on a bench. Doing sh*t like that to prove a point only give BFing moms a bad name.
(Disclaimer: I am 100% pro-BFing and BFed my first child and will do so with this one also, but I won't pull crazy antics like that and expect store management not to care).