Aussie mum is ORDERED to STOP breastfeeding at swimming pool

"It's illegal"

January 28 2019

A furious Aussie mum was asked to leave a public swimming pool while breastfeeding her 10-month-old baby - and and says she is 'embarrassed and ashamed' but the treatment she recieved.

The NSW woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, was nursing her baby by the side of the pool while watching her three-year-old son, who was swimming in front of her.  

“The lifeguard, a young female, asked me to leave because they don’t want milk getting in the pool and because my 10-month-old son might vomit in the pool,” she wrote on the Newcastle Hunter Mums Group on Facebook.

.

Stock image/Getty

Stock image/Getty

 

“I asked to see the pool’s policy on this and she informed me there is no policy about breastfeeding but that they don’t allow food and drink in the pool and if my kid vomits in the pool then everyone has to get out.

“I told her that I can’t stop the milk coming out when I have a let down, and that asking me to leave the pool because I’m breastfeeding is illegal.”

The mum said the confrontation was the second time she was asked to leave the Lakeside Leisure Centre pool, in the suburb of Raymond Terrace, near Newcastle, while breastfeeding her baby.

“The lifeguard’s reasons are pathetic, they show a clear lack of understanding of basic human biology and of the law. It’s ignorance on their part,” she said.

“The first time I was so incredibly embarrassed and ashamed that it happened to me, I’ve only ever heard of it happening to other people.

But the mum's post on Facebook was met with mixed responses from other parents, who could see the point of view of the swimming pool staff member.

 

 

'I don't want to swim in your baby's vomit,' said one. 'Or you breastmilk, but if you would like to feed your baby away from the pool deck, I'm happy,' said one. 

'I think the Leisure Pool has a point,' said another. 'I can't eat a sandwich in the pool, it's no different.'

 

“Some people agreed with the lifeguards, others were overwhelmingly supportive,” she told Yahoo 7.

“But overall, it shows to me that there is still so much misinformation out there about a breastfeeding mother’s right to feed her child anywhere, at any time.”

Lakeside Leisure Centre management confirmed to Yahoo7 they were investigating the complaint.

Just last week another mum was asked to stop breastfeeding her twins at their daycare at the risk of offending other parents and kids.