It's never a good sign for society when a breastfeeding mom is told she has to stop nursing in public because some prude has their panties in a twist. But this one may be the worst yet. A Colorado mom was breastfeeding her 10-month-old son in the kiddie pool at a water park, and other parents wanted her to cover up or get out.
Let me get this straight. A nursing mom can't get some respect at a facility built specifically for parents and their kids. Is it any wonder they're getting picked on out at the courthouse or in the mall?
Charlotte Dirkes says she was breastfeeding 10-month-old Cillian in the kiddie pool at Pirate's Cove, a city-owned water park in Englewood, Colorado. The park attendant who told her to cover up or get out said they were responding to complaints from other patrons.
But who would those other patrons be? Wouldn't they be ... other parents? I mean, this was the kiddie pool, after all.
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As much as the whole thing makes me angry, considering nursing in public is a legally protected right, I'm even more sad.
Of all people, other parents should understand exactly how silly the anti-nursing prudes are. Of all people, other parents should understand how important it is that a mom be able to feed her kiddo in public. Of all people, other parents should want to support ... other parents!
This is one of those infuriating cases that really drives home why the mommy wars end up helping no one in the end. If moms are so busy sniping at each other, we are too disorganized and distracted to fight injustices against momkind.
And you better believe that it's a smack at all parents when one mom is denied her legal right to breastfeed her child in public. If we can't even give our kids nourishment in a way that nature provides for, then every other choice WE want to make as parents is up for public debate ... and public punishment.
What do you make of these others parents getting Dirkes in trouble?
Image via Fifth World Art/Flickr
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Comments 246
"That's how some people feed their baby. Now go play"
End of discussion.
Everyone complaining about her being IN the pool, were you there? Do you know what kind of available seating there was? Do you know that she wasn't being discrete?
No. And I don't know that she COULDN'T have moved to sit in a chair somewhere, or that she didn't have both boobs out, waving her hands over her head going "look at me!"
What we ALL know for a FACT is that it was legal, and the owners of the pool were in the wrong. They didn't ask her to move and not do that in the pool because of sanitation/danger, they told her to cover up because some prudes complained.
She was within her legal rights and its bad business for the staff to EVER ask a woman to cover while nursing.
She was IN the pool.
That's gross.
I agree with breastfeeding in public, but I do think it should be covered. Like it or not, breasts are considered a private part of the body that shouldn't be exposed to other people. And I don't think all the breastfeeders of the world are going to change that. Whatever happened to modern decency? I wouldn't want to see some 20-something with her boobs spilling out of a bikini, either. Not to mention, she was IN the pool with the baby, breastfeeding. So many things wrong with that. Somebody has already mentioned that babies tend to be slippery when wet. Or how about if the baby had thrown up or spit up while in the pool? And all the chlorine fumes that baby is inhaling can't be good for digestion. They wouldn't allow a child with a bottle in the pool, or a child munching on Golfish, and this is no different.
cover up???!!! YOU try to cover up a squirmy baby in the heat. nearly impossible. or better yet, the next time you eat dinner outside this summer, put a blanket over your head and see how much you enjoy your meal.