Swimming pool tells mum to stop bf near the poolside cos "no food and drink" is allowed!

[PuppyMonkey]

Here's a corker from my paper today: here

oh. my. god.

oh. my. god.

There are two issues here - no food and drink, and the prudishness / not showing your norks issue.

The attendant told her not to nevause there were children watching (in fact it was probably that it made him uncomfortable) and that is way out of order. The thing about other customers not wanting to see it etc - that's bad.

But (shoot me down in flames, MN!) I actually can see the no food and drink argument. They don't want it in the pool for hygiene reasons - that makes sense. Milk is a food and it does go off. And BF can be messy - I for one had a very strong supply and it squirted everywhere.

If breast milk gets in the pool it is adding a body fluid to the pool and there are reasons why they don't want that.

They should allow it, but not in/beside the pool is fair enough.

I'm sure there are far worse things in that pool than breast milk, muffle!!

I work at a leisure centre,whenever I join one of these pool threads I need my hard hat But, at our pool plenty of mums breast feed and no one is the least bit bothered.
The only time we would ask someone to stop,is if they were actually in the pool,or sitting on the edge,this is because, as muffle points out,we do not want any bodily fluids in the pool.

I think not in the pool is one thing, though I have seen someone breastfeeding in ds1's swimming class and no one objected. But I think breast or for that matter bottlefeeding a very young baby by the pool is different - you can plan more for feeding older babies/young children. I think the fact that she regularly feeds her baby at another pool in the same area with no problems indicates that there shouldn't be one.

As I have a 2 year old (though he was formula fed from very young, not my choice) and a 3 month old bf baby, I feed a lot in places where there are other young children, fortunately I've yet to have someone object.

The council need to make up their mind why this woman was told to move in the first place. Was it due to health and safety, or because the lifeguard did not like it? Because, the woman was told one thing, that there were children present, and therefore she had to stop, and the council are saying its a food issue...if that is the case, why was she not told this first and foremost, rather than being to feel she was walking around topless for all to see.

I have BF DD3 at the side of the pool (fully clothed I my add!) whilst DD1 has her swimming lesson. If my child needs feeding, I feed her. Dare anyone tell me otherwise.

Although similarly, I was in a Ten Pin bowling centre for a party with DD1 when DD2 was weeks old. I went into an empty lounge area to feed DD2 discreetly. The Manager came over and told me to leave the lounge area as children were not allowed in there. I had to stop feeding DD2 who started screaming her head off. There was not one other person in there and he made me feel like a parasite. I burst into tears when I went back to the other Mums and I don't know what stopped me from complaining.

Jesus this makes me so mad. BFing IN a pool is one thing (although I wouldn't have an issue with it) but sitting by the side if a pool, wrapped in a towel as this mother and child were - WTF is the problem?

Just another example of the inherent baby/child unfriendliness of most of this country.

I have feed dd2 at the poolside of our local gym! I can see a point of if you were winding a baby and it sicked up might be3 a problem, but honestly, they do have mops!

There's a cafe in London aimed at families with children including babies, I did a baby massage course there. While there wasn't a problem about feeding per se (bottle or breast) ds1 once brought up a bit of milk, as was his habit, and one of the women who runs the cafe was really funny with me. I'd have happily cleaned up myself. In contrast there are places in this area which aren't targeted at families in the same way but they'd never act like that - there's a cafe near the breastfeeding support group which reserves a few tables at the back because we regularly turn up at 12.30 or so for lunch.

Erm so if you don't bf by the side of the pool you won't get bm in the pool?
Since lots of babies seem to start going swimming at about 6 weeks I would imagine there's a fair amount of breastmilk in swimming pools....sorry!

I can see the "no food and drink" argument, but without banning bf mums or asking them to stick plasters over their nipples I do think this it's impossible!

Yes, how silly - I'm sure people leak bm into the pool anyway, without even reaising it!

Its another one of those mad arguments about where do you draw the line when it comes to food and drink

If you allow breast feeding do you allow formula feeding if you allow formula bottles, do you allow juice in bottles for toddlers etc

If she was asked to move for these reasons I can see why... however if its an embarassment thing its ridiculous and they ought to be hung.. its perfectly natural

Well personally I would allow formula feeding at the pool (in my universe ) but I don't think many would take me up on it. If your ff baby cries then presumably you need to go and get the milk, make it, warm it up...it's only because of the handiness of breastfeeding which really makes this practical (although i bet she was freezing!)
I think no food and drink rles in general can't be applied to babies under about 4 months - they tend to eat sporadically and can eat little and often.

"we do not want any bodily fluids in the pool"

[snort] Best stop people going in at all. Especially children. Breastmilk is the least of your worries!

Most babies (however fed) have no bowel or bladder control. There are worse things in the baby pool than breast milk.

lol at seamen SM - you'd think they'd have better things to do than go swimming in public baths

Of course there is loads of stuff in the pool. But it is a matter of showing some respect and thoughtfulness I think. Pools will have some breastmilk, wee, maybe poo, vaginal discharge, vomit, maybe blood etc in them in small amounts. However, that does not make it fine to deliberately wee or take a dump in them does it? You don't sit in the pool eating your packed lunch because "there are probably worse things in there" do you? To sit and feed a baby on the edge of the pool or in the water and drip BM and maybe have the baby spitting up - when you could just move a few feet away - is a bit selfish. It's saying "I have every right to dribble bodily fluids into the pool because I'm BF". Why should you? It's not as if your baby is going to go hungry when you can just get out and sit on a chair.

I was a militant BFer and would not stand for anyone to tell me to move and BF out of sight, or not BF because people might not like to watch it. But this is a bit different. I don't believe that just because you are feeding your baby, you have the right to bypass any rule you like.

BF is hardly shit or piss though

And the baby could puke at any time, even if you got out of the pool and sat on the side to feed.

Agree with muffle. The idiot lifeguard made a stupid point about bf in front of children (dear me), but the general point about feeding at the poolside is a valid one. There should be a blanket no feeding at the poolside, however on a chair near the pool (so you can watch other children in the pool) is fine. My dd had a terrible reflux for the first 3 months, every time she was was fed she would sick a bit up. Can't imagine wanting to see that go into a swimming pool.