Posted on 04/30/2005 5:56:16 AM PDT by tuffydoodle
Nursing mom gets unwelcome reception
FW mall says security firm made a mistake
10:37 PM CDT on Friday, April 29, 2005
By KARIN KELLY / WFAA-TV
For many mothers, breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world.
But it turned into an embarassing situation that angered a North Texas woman this week after she said a mall security guard harassed her.
Adrian Sparks was shopping at Hulen Mall Thursday, and decided to discreetly nurse her eight-month-old baby under a blanket in the food court.
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Karin Kelly reports "The security guard came over and asked me to stop, and either go to the restroom or to leave," Sparks said.
The guard told Sparks a food court customer had complained, even though Sparks was covered with a blanket.
"I told him it was perfectly legal for me to nurse my child," Sparks said. "And that they sell clothes more revealing that what I was doing right here."
Of course, it is legal - but soon another manager approached.
"He said, 'well those rules don't apply because we're a private facility,'" she recalled.
Friends who breastfeed have rushed in for support.
"The human race wouldn't exist without breast milk," said nursing mom Rachel Tarbutton.
Some are members of La Leche League, an organization that supports mother's milk for health and bonding benefits..
"To know that she is getting everything she needs from me, from my body, is (important)," Sparks said.
Mall officials said the incident was not normal procedure, and that t heir new security company made a mistake.
"That is not a Hulen Mall policy," said manager Kevin Davies. " We support what she was doing, we support moms and all of our customers, and feel badly this occurred."
That's not all that reassuring for Sparks, though.
"I don't think I'll ever be able to shop there again, because I was just so upset about it," she said.
This is stupid and wrong. What the hell do they think nature made breasts for? Let her nurse her kid in peace.
Ironic that it's in style to let just about everything imaginable "hang out", but when a mom discretely uses her body for a legitimate purpose, that's not acceptable in this warped society.
Not all babies transfer well between breast and bottle. Tiny ones have to eat very frequently and expecting the mom to not feed the infant just because she's out of the house isn't reasonable.
The mom also gets physically uncomfortable if nursing doesn't occur for extended periods of time. There are alternatives that have been listed on this thread that are better than insisting on bottle use and making the mom physically uncomfortable.
Here's where I get confused.
You can pump breast milk out and put it in the freezer, and you can also take it along in bottles if you and hungry baby must go out.
So, why not do it? Seems like a happy compromise - baby gets breat milk, no breasts in public.
I don't know.....
That's what I will do, if the situation ever arises.
That's what my sister did with her three.
That's what my mother did with my brother. (My sister had to have goat milk - I forget why - and it SMELLED.)
I know I'm gonna get flamed for what I've already posted. That's cool.
Feed your babies at home, mothers. Plan YOUR schedules better, and we won't have to look at you flaunting what we fined the network for letting Janet Jackson show.
As long as some equate the female breast with sexual activity, this will continue.
You need to be ashamed of yourself.
"Feed your babies at home, mothers. Plan YOUR schedules better, and we won't have to look at you flaunting what we fined the network for letting Janet Jackson show."
Hah. You've clearly never had to arrange your time around an every 3 to 4 hour breastfeeding schedule. I'm supposed to head home every three hours just so you can feel more comfortable about what you see in public? Not likely. If you don't like it, don't look.
My SIL did it because she also worked and couldn't breast feed at the drop of a hat. She also never left the house for unnecessary excursions until he was on a schedule.
Another case of people getting in an uproar because they absolutely refuse to put the child first and change their lifestyles to accommodate the child. They'd rather force the rest of us to accommodate the mother's whims and if that involves the public display of child-bonding then so be it.
Yeah, throw a blanket over the kid's head - that's nice. Whatever happened to looking at them in the eyes and talking and stroking them as they feed? Mother first, mother first.
Well, the problem I had was that my firstborn wouldn't take a bottle, breastmilk or formula. Also, you can breastfeed and not have breasts showing, using specifically made clothes and using a blanket over the shoulder. So, it looks to me like the people complaining are complaining about what they see in their minds eye.
What pisses me off is when I go into a grocery store with my children and there are magazine covers with half-naked women on the cover and titles of articles explaining how to better your oral sex capabilities.
If the scene is so objectionable, then why do some try so hard to see what is going on?
Thank you for illustrating my point.
Nobody would or should ever expect you to rearrange your schedule.
Bingo!
With the resurgence of ponchos, it is even easier to hide what you're doing.
"Thank you for illustrating my point.
Nobody would or should ever expect you to rearrange your schedule."
Yes, the grocery and other shopping I have to do, and all the errands I have to run are all about me, lady. Right. It's just all my selfishness that makes me have to leave the house to pick up the drycleaning.
You might just have won an award for the most idiotic comment of the year here on FR.
That's why God invented the breast pump, and there's something called the bottle that I understand babies can drink from. Hell, I saw two of my nieces drinking from bottles just last weekend. Who'da thunk it?
You just wait until this thread heats up. I'll win by a landslide of angry lactaters.
"That's why God invented the breast pump, and there's something called the bottle that I understand babies can drink from."
Ok, you tell my (pardon the image, but...) leaking, about-to-explode breasts that I can't use 'em to feed my kid. May I ask where it is that I'm supposed to utilize this breast pump in a public place that would be less offensive to you? Your solutions, while occasionally useful, are sometimes impractical and impossible. And frankly, my breastfeeding is pretty discreet. Like I said, if you don't like it (that is if you even notice, which is unlikely), then don't look.
Not all babies will drink from a bottle. No matter how much you try, they just cry and cry.
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