A breast-feeding mom says she felt shamed after a security guard at Westroads Mall suggested that she breast-feed in a private room, instead of out in the open.
Sarah Brugger tells 6 News that she was offended someone asked her to stop feeding her baby.
Brugger says she is like other breast-feeding moms who know that the baby's needs come first. “I felt bad doing it out in public in the first place. Then after we left I said, 'I shouldn't have felt bad. I have every right to do that.'”
Nebraska law sides with Brugger, stating that moms have a right to breast-feed wherever they are. Brugger says she just wants people to understand what it takes to keep up with the demands of hungry newborns. “People just need to be mindful of what we have to do as new moms, breast-feeding.”
Nebraska Medicine lactation consultant, Jennifer Vidlak, tells 6 News that she hears about this sort of thing happening frequently. “When the baby needs to eat the baby needs to eat.”
Not only that but Vidlak says breast-feeding helps with the milk supply. “Nursing babies on demand and frequently, and at least 8-12 times a day, is how we sustain breast-feeding - let alone establish it.”
Westroads Mall is aware of the incident and Senior General Manager Jim Sadler says he feels terrible about the incident. “If a mom is breast-feeding the best thing just let her be. She is comfortable, she is with her child. She knows what she is doing. She probably doesn’t want to get up and go to a new room even if she could.”
The mall has breast-feeding rooms they added in when Legislative Bill 197 was adopted into law in 2011, but Sadler says the officer was simply offering another solution. “We take pride in nursing rooms we do have available."
Westroads says they do educate their guards on how to handle nursing moms.
(Photo courtesy of 6 News)