to complain to a large supermarket via social media regarding breastfeeding

[jemima1988]

in my local supermarket they have a breastfeeding room it's fab and I use it a lot..
I visited the same supermarket in a different location I didn't realise that not all branches had this facility. Whilst in there today u asked a member of staff where the breastfeeding room was he very rudely told me to use the disabled toilets! There is a cafe in the supermarket why not recommended that first ?!?
I have messaged said supermarket on twitter saying I felt upset

am i being hormonal and UR?

Come on... How are you 'upset'??

How old was he? If he was young then he'd probably have little idea about this.

She asked for the breastfeeding room and was directed to the toilet.

Citing privacy issues is no excuse. I thought we'd moved on from this?

Having said that, I'd email the store manager first.

As others have said, given you were asking about a private room, he probably thought you wanted privacy.

I do agree with that. No one said you couldn't feed in the cafe - that wouldn't have been on.

But it's actually quite rare to find a specific breastfeeding/mothers & baby room.

I actually don't think it would be a bad thing to give that as feedback as sharing baby changing with disabled facilities isn't ideal.

However not really seeing it as a complaint.

Also I've only ever seen this phenomenon on MN - people "asking" store staff/cafe staff where to breast feed. Why would they give a fuck?

Bit of an overreaction. You could bf in the cafe without buying a drink. Last time I needed to bf in sainsburys I went and sat down and one of the staff brought me a glass of water and told me it was thirsty work. I feel you're looking for an issue that isn't there. I don't know of any supermarkets with a bfing room. I assume if you'd asked where the formula feeding room was he'd have said the same.

Yes that's true, I would just automatically go to the cafe.

To be honest if someone asked and they said there is a special room for you to feed on your own in private then that would have caused offence to someone else.

Nah, you need to go to the local paper - start practicing your sad face OP

Why ask where you can breastfeed? Why do you need a special room?

The OP hasn't said she wanted somewhere private, she asked for the breastfeeding room.

Mumsnet is very weird. Another day and she'd have had bucket loads of support! She is DNBU to say she shouldn't have been directed to toilets of any kind.

Private or not the idea of feeding a baby in a toilet is really unpleasant. I know this is something sometimes suggested but I think it's an odd default.

That's what a mother and baby room is, a private room out of the way.

I've seen people complain on here about being directed to one, more than once.

When people complain about naff all it does dilute the genuine complaints.

By the way he was obviously unreasonable to suggest the toilets but you could have told him that.

If you'd prefer to use a breastfeeding room then I would have assumed the same as him, i.e., you want to feed in private. Lots of women prefer to have a bit of privacy, the way you phrased your request may have suggested to him that the cafe would not be to your liking. He wasn't "banishing" you to the toilets for no reason. It doesn't sound like you have anything to complain about really.

You're making a mountain out of a molehill here; commend them on having these facilities at some of their stores (because not all retailers offer them or think they're necessary) and ask them to consider rolling them across their branches where possible.

Whilst I agree there is no reason to complain except in possibly a "might be good if you trained your staff that not suitable place" way, or to say how much you appreciate the bf room in other stores, I don't believe should ever be offered disabled toilet for BF. Equivalent of being asked to eat your lunch in toilet and stops disabled person using it.

Having said that I used our work disabled toilet (which was never needed as no disabled staff) to express for a few days when building work meant the room I normally used (only one with
lock and a blind) was out of action. I wasn't very happy about it but better than having to cut down on the bf at the time.

Did he actually 'tell' you to go to the toilet, or just suggest there as he assumed you wanted a little privacy?

Though the disabled toilet is no place for breastfeeding, a disabled person may need to use it for starters!

I wouldn't complain that there wasnt a bf room, personally.
But I think its worthy of an email to their head office about being advised to feed in the loo.
Firstly, its not the place to feed a baby
And secondly, you'd be in there for some time so would denying a person who needed the loo.
The correct response to your question was "we dont have a bf room. But you are welcome to use the cafe (or any seat/ bench available -most stores have seating somewhere)"
But in your position I would have just fed in the cafe.

Not every store is big enough to have a dedicated BF room. And in any case that only continues the discredited thinking that BF is not to be done in public.
The cafe is provided for feeding everyone, including babies.

Some stupid replies on this thread.

OP, yanbu. Of course you shouldn't have been directed to a toilet. What he should have said was "we don't have a BFing room sorry, but please make yourself comfortable in the cafe."

However what you have here unfortunately is somebody who's received no training surrounding BFing, and has probably had no personal experience of it either. So he gave what he felt a reasonable alternative.

I would contact them but I wouldn't go in all guns blazing. This could be a good opportunity for them to think about introducing training and ensuring that employees are aware of the laws surrounding BFing.

Lol at breastfeeding training! It's a sentence long, that's all. No need for anything else

Surely people are able to make the call to use the cafe without having to rely on specially trained supermarket staff to tell them so?

Surely he simply assumed she asked because she didn't want the cafe and wanted somewhere private otherwise she wouldn't have asked and just gone to the cafe. Op, are you hoping this goes national?