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Moms plan nurse-in at Pan Am Pool

Staffer calls breastfeeding parent's actions 'offensive'

By: Jen Skerritt

Posted: 05/19/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

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Jenna Baker breastfeeds Ocean as her other daughter, Autumn, plays. (PHIL.HOSSACK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

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A group of local mothers is planning a mass "nurse-in" at Pan Am Pool after a staff member told a woman it was offensive to breastfeed her 11-month-old at the public facility.

Jenna Baker breastfed her daughter, Ocean, following the infant's morning swim class at the public pool on May 10.

Baker said her 11-month-old was hungry so she said she sat in a chair, took out her breast for a minute to get Ocean latched on and fed her for about 10 minutes.

She said her sweatshirt and the baby's head concealed most of her breast.

Baker said she was stunned when a female staff member followed her into the change room afterwards and told her what she did was "offensive."

"My jaw just dropped," Baker said. "I'm not going to change the breastfeeding habits of Ocean because of this wrongly perceived idea that breastfeeding is an offensive thing and an offensive act."

City officials contest Baker's version of events and said pool staff received several complaints from patrons after a woman attempted to nurse her baby in the pool.

City of Winnipeg spokeswoman Michelle Bailey said nursing mothers are welcome to breastfeed their babies at the pool, so long as they are not in the water. Bailey said if a baby spit up breast milk in the pool, staff would have to shut down the area for health and safety reasons.

"Even if it's just an infant puking up just a little bit of breast milk, that's just not sanitary," Bailey said.

Baker said she wasn't in the pool that day and breastfed her daughter while sitting in a chair, more than a metre away from the pool's edge.

"I was sitting in a chair with my clothes on," Baker said. "The city hasn't addressed the fact that one of their Pan Am staff confronted me and said it was offensive."

Baker is considering filing a human rights complaint in addition to the formal complaint she sent to Pan Am Pool last week. The 28-year-old mother of two is organizing a mass nurse-in at the public pool this Friday night and has started a Facebook group to encourage Winnipeg moms to show up and breastfeed.

"I think breasts are still taboo in our society, they're so overly sexualized in the media and the bottom line is we need to remember their natural function is to feed and nurture our children," Baker said.

"I don't believe anybody should eat in a washroom."

Breastfeeding advocates say it's disappointing some people don't understand the importance of breastfeeding. Liz Hatherell, a volunteer leader with the breastfeeding support network La Leche League Canada, said negative attitudes toward breastfeeding can discourage mothers, particularly if the practice is met with disapproval. Hatherell said breastfeeding rates drop off after babies reach three months and that ongoing support is one of the key things that helps encourage moms to breastfeed.

jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 19, 2010 A5

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