Does "no food or drink" mean "no breastfeeding"?

[eggnut]

Hello everyone, a question for you. My husband and I went to a museum in central London yesterday with our 4 month old baby. In our usual fashion it took us ages to get there, so I wanted to sit and feed DD in the gallery somewhere soon after our arrival. I paid for my entry ticket and then asked a member of staff if there was anywhere to sit down in the exhibit. She said there were benches, but that I was not allowed to feed the baby in the exhibit. I hadn't even thought to ask about whether bf was allowed, but I was clutching the baby in my arms when I spoke with her so I guess that gave it away!

I was quite surprised by this and specified that I was breastfeeding and she was quite firm that the "no food or drink" policy of the gallery applied to breastfeeding as well. Is this typical? I'm a big rule-follower and I definitely sympathize with the plights of museums trying to protect their collections (and not make exceptions for every member of the public who demands it), but it hadn't even occurred to me that quiet and discreet bf on a bench fell into the same category as walking around with a Coke in my hands or scattering biscuit crumbs on the Kandinskys!

I'm still not sure what all the bf etiquette is as it's still quite new for me. The gallery didn't have anything specific posted about bf and I can't find anything about it on their website.

I agree, they are breaking the law. It is quite clear if you read the Equality Act 2010. I also think formula fed babies should be protected. Nothing short of immediate health or safety concerns should override the right of a hungry baby to be fed.

Formula fed babies are protected - the law is about sex discrimination, it protects women on the grounds of maternity.

And sorry but the law is the law - we don't pussyfoot around talking about 'moral distinctions' or 'common sense' or 'proportionality' when it comes to racism or disability discrimination, do we?

I work in a museum.

My understanding is that you would be breaking the law to prevent a woman breastfeeding in a museum.

Quite frankly it is also just mean, and reflects badly on the museum.

Re: bottle-feeding, I wouldn't stop anyone doing that either. Or very young children being kept quiet with a sneaky biscuit, providing it stays mainly within the pushchair. Those things are a judgement call, but at the end of the day you want to welcome as many people as possible.

I'd love to hear how this pans out, eggnut! I'm really sorry your visit was curtailed because one employee wasn't in line with her organisation, but I'd put money on your getting a full apology from the Barbican Centre and an open invitation to return and feed your baby, once you write to them. Sounds like their employees haven't been briefed properly, or perhaps are being over-zealous because they don't want to get into a debate with parents about what else is 'ok'. (eg, 'If it's ok for her to ff/bf her 4 mo baby, why isn't it ok for me to give my 12 mo baby some biscuits and an apple?' etc)

They do need to readdress the issue with their employees though, because as Stardust says, it reflects very badly on the museum, who should be doing everything it can to broaden accessibility. In the instances of feeding babies, surely common sense needs to be applied? How likely is it that an exhibit will be squirted by a bottle or nipple? Babies are sometimes vomit-prone in themselves, but they're not extending the ban to all babies!