Breastfeeding Mother Stopped By “No Food Or Drink” Rules

In more news that sounds like a joke, a UK woman was stopped from breastfeeding her 11-week-old son at a public pool.

Laura Whotton was at the John Carroll Leisure Centre in Nottingham and started to breastfeed her infant near the pool while her 4-year-old son swam. She was stopped by a staff member, who cited the food and drink ban.

Sure, the infant was technically “eating”. But I doubt that was the actual reasoning behind the rebuke.

People in bikinis were showing more skin and breast than I was.

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Nottingham officials blame confusion for the mishap and have already drafted rules to make it clear that breastfeeding is quite allowable.

Nottingham City Council actively encourages and supports nursing mothers to breastfeed in all our centres and was one of the first local authorities to provide guidance in support of a mother’s right to breastfeed. We have clarified the policy at our leisure centres to make it absolutely clear that someone breastfeeding should not be treated the same as someone who is eating and drinking in the swimming pool areas.

City officials have apologized to Whotton.

Image: Daquella manera on Flickr under a Creative Commons License.

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