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Again? Mother Asked to Stop BFing or Leave
An unemployed mother in Winston-Salem, N.C., was told she had to stop breastfeeding her baby while waiting to meet with a jobs counselor. After all, it was office policy that nursing moms take their nastiness to a private room, if available, or … outside.
When an office receptionist informed Elizabeth Abbott, mother of four, that the nursing baby was making others in the office — the men in the office — uncomfortable and that she needed to stop or leave.
Abbott balked. She told the receptionist she wasn’t going anywhere.
She told Fox8 [see video] that she explained to the woman she didn’t care. “My baby is hungry, I’m here to find a job and my baby wants to eat.”
Even better?
Some people who overheard the receptionist were just as mad.
As spokesperson for the NC Employment Security Commission said the couldn’t prohibit the mom from breastfeeding, but that they had a policy stating where that could happen. In the open office was not one of those places.
Yet North Carolina law actually protects mothers who want to breastfeed in public, regardless of the comfort level of those present.
Stories of women being asked to cover up, or leave or simply stop feeding their kids aren’t unusual. And, for the most part, laws and policies end up coming down on the side of the nursing mom, which makes it surprising whenever this happens.
Were you ever asked to stop breastfeeding? Did you? I’ve always been ready with my laws and my attitude and comebacks but, alas, I’ve never had to use them. Which is a good thing, but kind of a letdown (ha, ha) when you’re all fired up.
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8 Comments
[...] Again? Mother Asked to Stop BFing or Leave [...]
Study: Men Better at Changing Diapers | Strollerderby commented on Mar 16 10 at 3:30 pm[...] woman in North Carolina was thrown out of an employment office for breastfeeding her baby while waiting for a job [...]
Lunchtime Link Love: Terry Richardson’s Terrifying Penis | Scanner commented on Mar 17 10 at 12:26 pm[...] Recently, an unemployed woman seeking job counseling was told to stop breastfeeding or leave. [...]
Breastfeeding in Public: Natural or Gross? | Strollerderby commented on May 20 10 at 7:36 pmFaye commented on Mar 16 10 at 3:10 pmComments Never have been aked to cover up; I covered up on my own. Problem solved (before it could even start).
dmite commented on Mar 16 10 at 7:39 pmComments You’ve got to be kidding me! Babies being confined to eating in outside, in restrooms, wherever they want us to hide when we feed them, is ridiculous. I try to be discreet, but this is how our children eat.
Rachael commented on Mar 16 10 at 11:56 pmHell to the no. In fact, I was nursing at the gym the other day, in a chair outside the daycare, and it seemed to me that people kept talking to me on purpose to sort of acknowledge that they knew what I was doing and that it was ok with them. I mean, when I am just carrying my kid around not that many people talk to me randomly (“Is it a boy?” “How old is he?” “Two boys, eh?”). I have to remind myself how nice it is to not have to give people the stink eye if I think they’re getting all huffy about it (but I have totally practiced the stink eye, just in case).
Nancy commented on Mar 17 10 at 4:34 pmCommentsI was in the Target changing rooms… not in a room, but definitely behind the counter on a bench. They told me I had better leave because if there were any men in there it might make them uncomfortable. However, it was the store manager that told me this, and then she had the security walk me out. I did contact the manager over the whole Target store and Target corporate and NO ONE ever apologized to me. That was 4 1/2 years ago, right before they passed the law in Kansas that says women are allowed to breastfeed anywhere.
Jen commented on Feb 21 12 at 2:29 pmI’m all for being discrete about it. I”ve nursed all 3 of my babies – still nursing my 34 month old at naptime and bedtime.
I’ve always been prepared with a response for anyone who said ONE WORD about me nursing my babies.
If anyone had ever asked me to ‘cover up’ I would have told them that maybe they should put a blanket over their head when they eat their lunch because “someone find find it (them eating) uncomfortable or distasteful”.
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