Have you ever written letters regarding nursing rooms -- or the lack thereof? How did you word your letters? Did you show them to any LLL members or have other nursing women sign a petition?
I ask because today, I went to nurse my son in The Bay (Canadian Dep't store) and their "nursing" room was disgusting. It was a plastic chair, without arms, beside a toilet and a change table in a stinky, dirty bathroom.
I left the store.
In contrast, in Sears in the same town, there is a large, carpeted room, with toys, change tables, and two rocking chairs.
We're allowed to nurse our babies pretty much anywhere in Canada, so perhaps The Bay didn't see a "need" for a nursing room?
It just depresses me that this isn't the first time I've seen this sort of set up. The mall where The Bay was in has a "mother's room". The mother's room has a leather chair with arms... beside a toilet... beside the main washroom.
I feel that nursing rooms are necessary. Yes, we should normalise breastfeeding by feeding wherever, whenever. But not every woman is as comfortable with her body -- or her nursing relationship. For example, when DS was very small, I couldn't even position him properly to latch him, and just getting him to start sucking was at least a couple minutes worth of screaming.
I think a lot of women feel the same.
So back to the original question -- have you ever written a store about their nursing/mother's rooms, and if so, what did you say in the letter?
I ask because today, I went to nurse my son in The Bay (Canadian Dep't store) and their "nursing" room was disgusting. It was a plastic chair, without arms, beside a toilet and a change table in a stinky, dirty bathroom.
I left the store.
In contrast, in Sears in the same town, there is a large, carpeted room, with toys, change tables, and two rocking chairs.
We're allowed to nurse our babies pretty much anywhere in Canada, so perhaps The Bay didn't see a "need" for a nursing room?
It just depresses me that this isn't the first time I've seen this sort of set up. The mall where The Bay was in has a "mother's room". The mother's room has a leather chair with arms... beside a toilet... beside the main washroom.
I feel that nursing rooms are necessary. Yes, we should normalise breastfeeding by feeding wherever, whenever. But not every woman is as comfortable with her body -- or her nursing relationship. For example, when DS was very small, I couldn't even position him properly to latch him, and just getting him to start sucking was at least a couple minutes worth of screaming.
I think a lot of women feel the same.
So back to the original question -- have you ever written a store about their nursing/mother's rooms, and if so, what did you say in the letter?
