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What Do you Think About this...Found it in my Local Paper!!
posted to Newcomers Club - Active discussion
in The CafeMom Newcomers Club
on Jul. 4, 2009 at 4:33 PM
- 47 Replies
- 898 Total Views
Pool staff's action fires up mothers
Lifeguard, manager forbid breast-feeding, prompting a nurse-in
By KATHY ANEY
The East Oregonian
Public protest comes in many forms, but Friday's "nurse-in" at Milton-Freewater's Aquatic Center was anything but typical.
Several women, all nursing mothers, sat poolside and nursed their babies, protesting an incident last weekend when a lifeguard asked a woman to leave the pool area and breastfeed in the locker room instead.
It happened as Christine Magnaghi sat in about an inch of water at the shallow end of the kiddie pool. As she kept one eye on her 2-year-old son Jerome, splashing in the water, she fed baby Levi under a nursing cover.
"I was almost done when I felt a tap on the shoulder," Magnaghi said.
After asking Magnaghi if she was breastfeeding, a lifeguard directed her inside the building. Magnaghi, of Walla Walla, protested.
"State law protects my right to breastfeed in public," she said.
The lifeguard left to retrieve pool manager, Karen Shelton.
Magnaghi asked Shelton, "How would you like to eat your lunch in the bathroom?"
Shelton, Magnaghi said, cited a different segment of Oregon pool law, saying state code requires all food and drink at public pools to stay behind a blue line that marks a four-foot perimeter from pool's edge.
Magnaghi wasn't sure what to think.
Oregon is one of 43 states that allow breastfeeding in any public or private location. If one considers lactation as food and drink, the two laws seem to clash.
Magnaghi went home and logged on the Internet to study the laws, before warning her Facebook friends not to try nursing at the M-F pool. Many joined in her outrage, she said, and advised her to stage a "nurse in."
Friday, Magnaghi and a few others did just that, though most other patrons probably missed the whole low-key poolside affair.
Though she isn't a breastfeeding mom, Cindy Armenta drove from Hermiston to support her sister Kim Alger and the others who participated in the nurse in.
"I felt like it was harassment," she said. "It is society's idea of what breasts are for that caused them to say something to a woman who was breastfeeding."
"I was outraged that they would ask her to go into the bathroom," said Alger, who nursed her son Isaiah. "Their discomfort should not make policy - I have the right to nurse and they have the option not to look."
As they talked, a woman approached Magnaghi, who sat nursing Levi.
Wendy Harris, a Milton-Freewater resident with a season pool pass to the swim center, hotly told Magnaghi that she'd seen Saturday's friction between her and the pool manager. Magnaghi, she said, had treated Shelton rudely and needed to observe the state's food and beverage laws for pools.
"The designated eating area is behind the blue line," she said.
Magnaghi kept her composure during the exchange, but looked slightly shaken as Harris stormed off. Her husband Kevin, she said, had warned her it could get ugly
Later, Harris, who said she breastfed her own children, talked about her main objection - the chance of breastmilk mixing with pool water and possibly exposing swimmers to HIV and hepatitis C.
"Her breastmilk may be pristine, but not everybody's is," she said.
Nurse-in participants stayed well back from the blue line on Friday and pool staff seemed to pay them no mind.
Shelton, the pool manager, declined to further weigh in on the controversy, referring inquiries to Milton-Freewater City Manager Linda Hall. Since city offices were closed Friday, Hall was unavailable for comment.
Magnaghi stayed composed, but adamant, as she nursed Levi under the shade of an umbrella.
"I don't want to be a vigilante or a militant," she said. "I just want people to know the rules."
Replies:
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- by on Jul. 4, 2009 at 4:41 PM
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Why did the lifeguard tell her to go in the building instead of just asking her to get out of the water? Why not compromise instead of making a patron feel harassed? Maybe the lifeguards need a little more education. BTW hi fellow Oregon momma!!
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- by on Jul. 4, 2009 at 4:49 PM
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Quoting ormom1977:
Why did the lifeguard tell her to go in the building instead of just asking her to get out of the water? Why not compromise instead of making a patron feel harassed? Maybe the lifeguards need a little more education. BTW hi fellow Oregon momma!!
I agree. I really dont see the big deal since she was covered. Regardless they would not have asked her to take her sandwich to the bathroom to eat, they would have told her the rule about where to eat.
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- by on Jul. 4, 2009 at 4:49 PM
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Later, Harris, who said she breastfed her own children, talked about her main objection - the chance of breastmilk mixing with pool water and possibly exposing swimmers to HIV and hepatitis C.
"Her breastmilk may be pristine, but not everybody's is," she said.
"Could a dead, frozen heart break? It felt like mine would"~ Edward, Midnight Sun
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- by on Jul. 4, 2009 at 4:49 PM
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ok i have some questions here:
1. what if she was preggo and leaking would they have told her she couldnt swim because she was lactating?
2.she was under a damn cover its not like it was out in the open and everyone could see her tit
3.can u really spread hiv and hepatitis through breastmilk if so i never knew that
4.if she had gone into the bathroom to bf and something happend to her other child the pool would have prolly been sued for the lifeguard being more worried about her bfing then watching the swimmers
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- by on Jul. 4, 2009 at 4:51 PM
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Quoting mommam58122:
ok i have some questions here:
1. what if she was preggo and leaking would they have told her she couldnt swim because she was lactating?
2.she was under a damn cover its not like it was out in the open and everyone could see her tit
3.can u really spread hiv and hepatitis through breastmilk if so i never knew that
4.if she had gone into the bathroom to bf and something happend to her other child the pool would have prolly been sued for the lifeguard being more worried about her bfing then watching the swimmers
I always thought that once the HIV virus hit the air it died???
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- by on Jul. 4, 2009 at 4:52 PM
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Why can't BF mother just pump before going out. BF working mom pump for their kids when they are at work. I was the library and this women was feeding her child and her whole breast was there so everyone can see it. at least do it discreetly.
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- by on Jul. 4, 2009 at 4:52 PM
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I wouldn't swim if I was leaking, just me. And yes you can spread HIV,HEP, and AIDS through Breastmilk.
Quoting mommam58122:
ok i have some questions here:
1. what if she was preggo and leaking would they have told her she couldnt swim because she was lactating?
2.she was under a damn cover its not like it was out in the open and everyone could see her tit
3.can u really spread hiv and hepatitis through breastmilk if so i never knew that
4.if she had gone into the bathroom to bf and something happend to her other child the pool would have prolly been sued for the lifeguard being more worried about her bfing then watching the swimmers
"Could a dead, frozen heart break? It felt like mine would"~ Edward, Midnight Sun
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