THE mother of a five-month-old baby was followed and questioned by police and security guards after she used a parents’ room at Westfield Marion to express breast milk, earlier this month.
Sharleen Salmon, who works at Marion, said she felt harassed and was embarrassed after a woman and a female cleaner at the shopping centre complained to police and centre security about her using the room during her half-hour lunch break.
The young mum, who has recently returned to work in the hair and beauty industry, to support her family, said “I was in a private area (in the parents room) behind the curtain and this cleaner just walked in on me and watched what I was doing.
“She told me the parents room was for parents and breastfeeding only - and that I wasn’t allowed to eat lunch in there.’’
Ms Salmon said she was using a standard breast pump to express milk to feed her baby daughter Justice, who was being cared for by her father.
She said the cleaner made her feel as though “I wasn’t allowed to be in there. I was doing something very personal and for her to stand there and watch me was embarrassing.’’
Ms Salmon, who expresses milk once a day, said she was followed back to work by a security guard and a police officer, who said a formal complaint had been made to centre management.
This is absolutely pathetic! What on earth is this damn world coming too??!!
I found this story at http://guardian-messenger.whereilive.com.au after reading a post in the BubHub forums I frequent.
It made me feel angry about the treatment of this young mother & makes me wonder what kind of treatment I may receive in the future if placed in this situation.
Breastfeeding is vital to sustaining life to an infant whether it’s thru immediate contact feeding or expressing milk for later use. There is so much negativity existing already about public feeding, however when a mother cannot even express in a private area without being harrassed, then socety has gone way too far out of line.
The Security and especially the Cleaner should have approached the woman with respect & credibility. I believe that Ms. Salmon has every ground to make an uproar against Westfield Marion in South Australia & the Cleaner involved. This woman should be removed from her position as she had no right in speaking to Ms. Salmon in the manner she did. Who did she think she was???? Sounds like shoot now ask questions later syndrome.
SHAME ON YOU WESTFIELD MARION!
Popularity: 43% [?]
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
9:57 pm
Dear Socko,
Good on you for writing this blog.
My Wife and I agree that this poor young Mother’s privacy has been breached.
10:55 am
Just read about it elsewhere and it is utterly ridiculous!
I hope Westfield get their arses kicked.
12:51 pm
Good to see I’m not the only one who found this absolutely crazy. Some people just need to get a grip on reality - ffs its breastfeeding, you know, its good for babies.
1:46 pm
You have GOT to be kidding me!!! How awful!!! I bet there’ll be some community backlash over this. There had better be!
9:22 am
OMG, this is SO horrible. As a mum that has bf 3 children and am currently still bf my 18 month old I got shivers reading this story
Australia should be disgusted at the way society treats breastfeeding as a disease, it means healthier babies, saves money in healthcare and is much easier on the hip pocket for parents (we all know any money we save is a bonus) let alone the best thing in the world for mum and bub.
I think Westfield and the cleaner need a friggin reality check aaaaaarrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh things like this make me SO angry!!!
2:40 pm
Breastfeeding decreases insulin requirements for breastfeeding mothers who are diabetics. In one study of 17 insulin-dependent diabetic mothers, 6 had an average decrease of insulin dosage of 33%, 7 a decrease of 13% and only 4 needed to have slightly more insulin while they breastfed. So, although you need extra calories to supply milk for your baby you may actually find that the amount of insulin you need falls after delivery.