Asked to stop breastfeeding

229 replies

MsCoco · 09/08/2023 21:21

Recently we went on holiday to a caravan park down by the south coast. The caravan park is really aimed at families - a petting farm, soft play, kids shows etc. We were in the swimming pool area - there’s a kiddy splash pool and a toddler swimming pool, the whole place is filled with young families. We’re playing in the toddler pool and my youngest DD needs a feed, she’s 6 weeks old, so I exit the pool and sit on the side to feed her whilst watching DH and our other children play.

I’m breastfeeding and a lifeguard comes over to me and tells me I have to stop, I’m not allowed to feed and I have to go to the changing rooms to do that. I was a bit taken aback and just said ok and stopped feeding, and he then went over to another lifeguard and said ‘I’ve told her’.

I’m genuinely interested to hear thoughts - was I wrong to breastfeed in this scenario? I was very discreet, and felt quite embarrassed to be told off. Why would they have this policy?

OP posts:

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Marblessolveeverything · 10/08/2023 16:56

Glad it was sorted. I am wondering if they would say anything about not having an adult in the pool with little ones next!

LlynTegid · 10/08/2023 17:01

Good to read of the update, sad it happened in the first place. Lifeguard presumably has never seen breasts before.

TakenRoot · 10/08/2023 17:12

Well done OP, And I am glad they owned up properly.

TossacointoHenryCavill · 10/08/2023 21:35

10HailMarys · 10/08/2023 13:55

I see the OP hasn’t been back to clarify whether she was sitting by the pool, or on the edge with her legs dangling in the water, but my local outdoor pool doesn’t allow anyone to sit on the side dangling their feet in - not anything to do with breastfeeding, it’s just their rule (not sure why).

However, if the OP got out of the pool and sat on chair or something to feed the baby, and the site just has a problem with breastfeeding in public, that’s obviously terrible behaviour from the site.

As for whether it’s acceptable to breastfeed in a pool, my view is that if nobody else is allowed to eat or drink in the water for reasons of hygiene and water quality, you shouldn’t feed your baby in the water either. And I really do not agree with people who seem to think that vomit is somehow harmless and fine just because it emerges from a baby rather than an adult. It isn’t. It’s a human being’s regurgitated stomach contents; it doesn’t make it any more hygienic because it’s ‘just milk’ or ‘they’re only a baby’. Your baby’s sick might not bother you, but nobody else should have to deal with it. If a baby puked in the pool they’d absolutely have to clear the pool to empty it - just as they would if an adult did.

But absolutely fine to feed a baby by the pool on dry land, of course.

There is a difference actually.
Adults mostly vomit because of gastro-intestinal illness. Babies mostly spit up milk immediately after a feed because the muscles (esp sphincters) in their gastro system are immature. So most baby spit up is unlikely to be full of e-coli or giardia or hepatitis A.
Pools are not emptied of water when someone vomits (or poos) in them. They usually empty the pool of people, fish out anything solid and then add extra chlorine or other disenfectants and wait. You have to wait for the extra chlorine to have time to kill any likely pathogens and then wait for the chlorine levels to go back down to safe swimming levels.
Draining a pool completely can take days. You might drain an outdoor public pool that’s only used in summer, and you might close a pool for maintenance for a couple of weeks a year and drain or partially drain it then, but no one is draining large public swimming pools every time a baby spits up in one - they don’t actually drain them when an adult vomits due to gastro-intestinal illness either.
Sorry if I’ve ruined pools for you.

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