Public pool staff calls police when two Minnesota moms refuse to “cover up or go to the locker room” to breastfeed. Moms are suing.
Two breastfeeding mothers were asked to “cover up or go to the locker room” at a public pool in a small town called Moore, Minnesota.
The two sisters-in-law were watching their other four children while playing with their babies in the shallow end of the pool.
When Stephanie Buchanan’s 3-month-old got fussy, she knew he was hungry and started to feed him.
“There’s not really a choice sometimes,” Buchanan says in the video below. “I was wearing a one-piece swimming suit and I just flipped my strap down and fed him.”
“A patron came and told me I needed to cover up because her sons were swimming.”
When Buchanan refused to give into the guest, a staff member came and asked the women to cover up or go to the locker area.
A 2017 Minnesota law states “a mother may breastfeed in any location, public or private, where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be, irrespective of whether the nipple of the mother’s breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breastfeeding.”
Knowing her rights, Buchanan’s sister-in-law, Mary Davis, proceeded to feed her infant.
“The reason I didn’t get out of the pool to breastfeed is my kids… I gotta watch my kids,” Davis said.
In an attempt to get the women to comply, pool staff called the local police.
The police didn’t ask the women to leave, but suggested that they feed their babies more discreetly on the pool deck, rather than “in the kiddie pool.”
“Breast-feeding at the Mora pool isn’t anything new. It’s been a normal thing for years,” Kanabec County Sheriff Brian Smith told the StarTribune.
“My own kids were breast-fed at that pool,” Smith said. “It’s usually done discreetly — not out in the middle of the kiddie pool with little kids playing in the water.”
By this time, the women were so fed-up, they left, and took their cause to social media.
They’ve organized a poolside nurse-in today at noon to raise awareness about their legal right to nurse in public.
Comments
20 responses to “Pool Calls Police When Breastfeeding Moms Refuse to “Cover Up””
Oh breasts. Your power knows no bounds.
If you think a woman needs to cover, hide in shame whilst nursing her child because *gasp* naked flesh then you better be at every clothing store like Victoria’s Secret requesting their ‘pornography’ be taken down.
Smdh.
Absolutely. Breastfeeding is not a crime… smh, too!!!
Exactly
I do think she could have left the pool, taking her kids with her to “rest for a while” on the deck and covered up with a towel. However, if you quote the law correctly she’s OK. Funny that someone mentioned she was doing it in front of little boys. Did she ask how many of those little boys had been breast fed?
Breast feeding is NORMAL ! Unsupportive people can turn the other way or cover their heads !
I’m all for breastfeeding been there done that BUT I do feel you should cover up when in public. Its just courteous to other people…some people feel uncomfortable with it and you should respect that. just another reason to sue someone…
So a baby should suffocate under a hot towel in the blistering sun to eat at the pool?
That’s great. When you’re breastfeeding feel free to do that.
Not everyone wants their children to see a woman breastfeeding when they are not used to see it natural or not
Then feel free to take your kids to the locker room.
They need to stop taking their children out in public then. A nursing mother in Minnesota is totally within her rights to breastfeed anywhere she and her child are otherwise authorized to be.
I agree that she was in her legal rights. But what’s wrong with just showing response for others. The request was simple, yet in today’s society, people are to self center to show any respect to others. It’s all about “me”
I agree you should have enought respect for yourself and others to be descreet when your breast feeding.i think some mothers just get thier kicks being open about it and showing off but really i dont want my teenage boys looking at your breast.It is also my right to be able to take my teenage boys in public and not have to worry about nudity and thats really what it is 30 years ago women didnt whip thier boobs out in public to feed so why does every nursing mother feel she has to do it now.
What people do and don’t want to see is immaterial. I don’t want to see hairy men walk around shirtless. I don’t want to see babies in nothing but a diaper in public. I don’t want to see people in flip-flops that show off filthy feet. So I look somewhere else, because I’m responsible for myself, my own eyes and my own feelings, just like everyone else. People aren’t required to live according to anyone else’s comfort.
Have a problem seeing a woman breastfeeding? Easy solution: LOOK AWAY. I’m 100% sure most of the swim suits you see there are showing more skin than this woman breastfeeding her infant. I’ve done this exact same thing countless times. You do what you gotta do to get through the day. This mom is being a damn good mom and people should be applauding her, not shaming her.
Some people come from a religious background where they are uncomfortable with legs being shown…should we not wear shorts around them? Maybe we should all wear a burka as not to offend.
For goodness sakes there were probably teens and young woman there in bikinis that showed more breast than the mom did breastfeeding.
But, it’s ok to see a breast when displayed sexually. Right? Seeing a breast feeding a baby is just too much for some people.
If you want a breastfeeding mother to cover up, then those bikini wearing teens should have to too!!!! Fair is fair.
Either it is about showing too much breast, or it isn’t.
Point in fact, by making a big deal about the mother breastfeeding they called more attention to it than letting her feed her baby and be done!
Would you want to eat your lunch in the summer heat with a towel or blanket over your head? There is no need or reason for a nursing mother to have to subject her baby to stifling heat just because a few morons are offended by someone using her breasts for their intended purpose. Bottom line… if you don’t like it, don’t look!
Please cover yourself as natural Right to breast feed in public. There are mothers there who may be uncomfortable with explaining to their own children what you are doing.
IF it’s nobody’s business but your own. Cover your body up.
I agree….after all that’s what a breast pump is for