Harassed at Fred Meyer for NIP

[GreenGrrl]

I have initiated a letter-writing campaign in response to the harassment I received after nursing my son at my local Fred Meyer. To read my story and find out how you can join the campaign, please see my blog http://reluctantlactivist.blogspot.com/ .

Thanks!
Chris

[MaryJaneLouise]

:scary That is outrageous! That anyone wouldn't think a grocery store was PUBLIC PLACE! DUH!

[nikisager]

Wanted to let you know I sent them an email... good luck mamma

[jrose_lee]

I wrote them too...sorry that happened.

[rmzbm]

for you for all you're doing!!

[lissabob]

I'm guessing you are in Portland? Dangit! I'd be down at Freddies (locally) with you in a second. Hmm, maybe a series of Nurse-ins? (Thinking Portland and Medford lol)

[velcromom]

What a crummy thing to have happen. The lack of common sense displayed is mind boggling, from claiming a grocery store isn't a public place, to the supervisor who denied your complaint... good grief. I hope you get a great response to the nurse-in. Let us know what the result is!

[miss_sonja]

Fred Meyer in Seattle was the first place I ever NIP'd...never got a comment (though I was sure nervous). Shocked to hear how rude the management was--they'll get a letter!

[2crazykids]

This stuff really suprises me about PDX. I lived there for 10 years, I bared my breasts all over that town with my babies. I nursed in Freddies tons of times. Nobody ever batted an eye! What's happening to PDX? Is it being taken over bnu republicans?:

[sapphire_chan]

I'm sorry! My boyfriend (now dh) was here in Indiana and then I ended up going to school here, but as soon as I graduate and we can get jobs I'll come back, I promise! Sorry!!!

[muppet729]

I like the way that the IL laws put it- it seems clearer. I hate the "is it a public place" argument. Unless there are certain people that they don't allow into their store- like nursing babies- then I consider it public

Section 10. Breastfeeding Location. A mother may breastfeed her baby in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be, irrespective of whether the nipple of the mother's breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breastfeeding; however, a mother considering whether to breastfeed her baby in a place of worship shall comport her behavior with the norms appropriatein that place of worship.

http://www.lalecheleague.org/Law/summary.html

[Belle]

I have nursed my daughter in Gateway Fred Meyers. Not very often though, because I live in Vancouver. I never ran into any problems. One of our local group's LLL leaders works at the Freddie's near my house. (Different location) She told us at one of our meetings she had been working to educate some of her fellow employee's about NIP.

I would be happy to join a nurse-in too. I'll get started on writing Freddies a letter. Portland has a very large BFing community and it would not be in their best interest to have several hundred angry mothers protesting them.

ETA: Here's my letter to Freddies

Dear Sir or Madam,
Its come to my attention that a Nursing mother was recently asked to cover up while feeding her child at your Gateway location. Covering up is not necessary or legally required in Oregon. I'm sure that you would not ask a bottlefeeding mother to cover her child while giving it a bottle. Oregon has one of the highest breastfeeding rates in the country. Portland in particular has a very high rate of breastfeeding mothers. I don't think that it would be in Fred Meyer's best interest to anger nursing mothers. Many other businesses have instituted Breastfeeding policies and have started training programs for their employees so that they know nursing mothers are not to be harrassed while feeding their children. I suggest that Fred Meyers look in to this.

I would like to add that I personally have never had a problem nursing my daughter in one of your stores (even the store in question) and that I enjoy shopping there.

Thank you for your time,
Heather P****.

[sparkprincess]

I will be writing a letter (despite the fact that I'm a Republican)!!

[blessed]

Originally Posted by sparkprincess

I will be writing a letter (despite the fact that I'm a Republican)!!

Is the implication that Republicans can't read ?

[Victorian]

cross/posted

I had to run to the bank today to deposit some checks. The bank is inside FM.

One of the first things that I noticed was a big sign announcing a "family friendly" aisle. Which to them means removing the mag. and tablods and using the space for more candy.

THEN I notice that all the "naughty" mags like Cosmo have a piece of hard black plastic covering them so that our children can't see the hussy's cleavage.

Related?

You decide.

V.

[BelgianSheepDog]

Ahhh yes, Freddy's has not been the same since the Kroger's buyout. We can look forward to it becoming more and more like Walmart everyday, IMHO. I'm sadly not surprised to hear an ignorant manager harrassed a nursing mom there.

[Belle]

I got an email response from Freddies today.

It said, (in my words)
Thanks for writing to us regarding an incident at our Gateway location, We are aware of Oregon's law regarding the rights BFing Mothers. We are sorry that this mother was made to feel uncomfortable. One of our representatives has contacted her to apologize. We will make sure that our employees are educated about the rights of nursing mothers. Thank you for your comments.

I also received a very nice card from Fred Meyer's in the mail today with some pretty good coupons. It's a lot different than what they normally send in their flyer ads.

[sparkprincess]

Originally Posted by blessed

Is the implication that Republicans can't read ?

I don't get it...(which maybe means Republicans are stoooopid??)

[remixrocka]

here is what i don't get, breastfeeding is not that commonly seen for people to have formed an informed position against it, yet they seem to come up with the same standard comments (is there some secret anti-breastfeeding club?)

[nadine]

this was on the news here, way to go! they had a fred meyer rep saying that it wasn't handled correctly and that they would retrain the employees to be accepting of breastfeeding in their stores. wow!