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South Carolina Moms Says Walmart Employees Didn't Let Her Breastfeed in Public
November 12, 2008
Here's the story from a South Carolina TV station:
(You can watch the video too).
COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A Midlands mother called us about something she says happened at a Richland County Wal-Mart.
Heather Silvis says she felt bullied when Wal-Mart associates told her she could not breastfeed her baby in the store on Two Notch Road.
"I sat down on the bench and put the baby on my lap. I had not even began to nursing when supervisor and four Wal-Mart employees who were standing in the area began to tell me 'You can't do that here,'" Silvis said.
Instead, Silvis says employees told her to go into a dressing room.
"Then one of them stood up and pushed my shopping cart with my 21-month-old baby in it and my purse around the corner and I was told, 'If you want to breast feed, you're going to have to go in there.' So I followed my child who was in my shopping cart went into the dressing room and nursed my baby," Silvis said.
Silvis says she wants an apology from Wal-Mart and hopes she and other mothers don't have to face this type of discrimination.
State law does allow mothers to breastfeed in public.
Wal-Mart representatives say the dressing room was offered to Silvis as a courtesy and employees did not mean to offend her.
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Comments
South Carolina is my state so I'm glad you posted this. As if I needed ONE MORE reason to boycott Wal-Mart. Apparently teensy glimpses of breasts are offensive, but it's perfectly acceptable for women to scream at and BEAT their children there. What a class act Wal-Mart is. I hope that mom has the good sense to go somwhere else from now on.
Posted by: Jenny | November 13, 2008 07:57 AM
Something similar happened to me at the Target here in Boston (the Boston South Bay location). My baby was crying so I asked an associate where the fitting room was as I wanted to sit and nurse properly (he was still hungry despite having just nursed while I crouched on an empty bottom shelf in the car seat aisle). One of the associates guessed that I wanted to nurse, and immediately said, "You can't do that here--you have to use the bathroom." I hunted down the manager, told him they were violating state law, and dragged him over to confront the woman. And also told them their bathrooms were filthy.
Posted by: Victoria K. | November 15, 2008 10:28 PM
The woman this happened to should talk with the police; it is illegal to forcably move a person. Its called "kidnapping."
Generally, kidnapping occurs when a person, without lawful authority, physically asports (i.e., moves) another person without that other person's consent, with the intent to use the abduction in connection with some other nefarious objective. . . . Kidnapping occurs when any person is unlawfully and non-consensually asported and held for certain purposes. These purposes include . . . terrorizing or inflicting bodily injury on the victim or a third person. . . .
Posted by: Michell | November 16, 2008 07:26 PM
Very dissapointing story..stories like this make me miss Europe
Posted by: Jen | November 23, 2008 02:31 PM
I have never been approached personally while breastfeeding but I can assure you that if I was, I would report them to the BBB, the news and anyone else I could think of that would take interest. No one would confront a woman bottlefeeding her child - why would someone feel like they had the right to approach me when I am simply feeding my child? Don't let ignorance discourage you from breastfeeding, ever.
Posted by: Chrissie | November 25, 2008 06:14 PM