“The rights and wrongs of this situation can be debated all day long. At the end of the day the pool attendant suggested she use a private room, I assume this is not the changing room as these are not private areas by any stretch of he imagination. that would mean the leisure centre has addressed this type of 'issue' and gone to some lengths to support the needs of breast feeding mothers. it wasn't an unreasonable request in my book and the centre has to consider the other users and that some may have taken offence. No it's a big fuss about nothing. Anyway this young girls son the 4 year old swimmer, is persistently bullying my son and other kids at Carrington Primary. There have been numerous complaints and still it carries on. It's not a wonder when you see all the stink that she's kicked up about this, I think the school is scared to death to deal with the repetitive abuse my son and others receive day in day out, in case Ms Whotton decides to contact the tabloid press with boo hoo tell tales of her anger, distress and upset and her poor little boy, this and that, blah, blah, blah. I'm sorry but, get real lady, stop moaning when you get pulled up for breaking rules and sort your thung of an infant child out before her turns into a thug of a grown up. He swears a lot too by the way!!!”

“The rights and wrongs of this situation can be debated all day long. At the end of the day the pool attendant suggested she use a private room, I assume this is not the changing room as these are not private areas by any stretch of he imagination. that would mean the leisure centre has addressed this type of 'issue' and gone to some lengths to support the needs of breast feeding mothers. it wasn't an unreasonable request in my book and the centre has to consider the other users and that some may have taken offence. No it's a big fuss about nothing. Anyway this young girls son the 4 year old swimmer, is persistently bullying my son and other kids at Carrington Primary. There have been numerous complaints and still it carries on. It's not a wonder when you see all the stink that she's kicked up about this, I think the school is scared to death to deal with the repetitive abuse my son and others receive day in day out, in case Ms Whotton decides to contact the tabloid press with boo hoo tell tales of her anger, distress and upset and her poor little boy, this and that, blah, blah, blah. I'm sorry but, get real lady, stop moaning when you get pulled up for breaking rules and sort your thung of an infant child out before her turns into a thug of a grown up. He swears a lot too by the way!!!”

“As long as she didn't have her breasts hanging out,(sorry!) which she didn't, then there is no problem.

And to all those who are saying "pathetic bottle-fed babies" and "those who don't breast feed are selfish", who on earth are you to judge!! No-one can tell you this is right or wrong its a personal choice. My kids weren't breast fed and they are big, strong and clever!”

“I'd just like to say that whether or not food or drink was allowed, milk letdowns can happen randomly. Are they not to let her in the pool AT ALL? Sometimes women cannot control when their milk starts to flow out so what to do then? Ban ALL nursing mums from the pool?”

“how utterly laugh out loud stupid this council spokesperson is to say breasfteeding equates with "food and drink" being prohibited from the side of the pool for health and safety reasons. They obviously do not have children to say something so ridiculous. Breastfeeding is natural and the best thing for babies - better than that inadequate formula,which doesn't offer proper anti-body protection. How unnatural is it to feed a baby something other than mother's milk?
Mums who breastfeed do the best for their children. Mums who don't are mostly selfish and don't try as hard as they could - about 90 per cent of mums can breastfeed.
There is more cause to exclude those mums who bottle-feed.
I am currently breast-feeding my baby girl and also breastfed my son. No-one has ever questioned me when I've fed in public and I've even fed my son while sitting in Marks and Spencer! I would have refused to leave the pool if this idiot life-guard had asked me to leave while feeding my child. The council has got egg on its face over this one.”

“On the legal front, I think some people are a little confused. The law that forbids the interference of a breastfeeding mother applies to Scotland only.

Now there is the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act which should prevent this harassment. It was supposedly strengthened to include maternity. This is however, civil law, where as the Scottish law if I have got this right is also criminal law. (Correct me if I am wrong)

As for the general legality of breast feeding in public, last year the press said that a woman breastfeeding in public could be charged with indecency or a public order offence. According to Barbara Follett, Deputy Minister for Women and Equality

"Some people also think that women can be charged with indecency for breastfeeding in a public place. This is, I am glad to say, utter nonsense and completely wrong."

My question is was that a statement of law or legal opinion. In Scotland, it would be the former, but in England?

For something to be stated as legal fact, usually you need a court case or primary legislation. The hoping is that the new equalities bill will sort this out, although I believe we should just copy the Scottish legislation into English law.

For the record, I have come across mothers breastfeeding, and I had no problem with it.

My concern is that we might get a 2005 Margaret Boyle situation where the police get involved and a mother is brow beaten into accepting a police caution or worse and ending up with a criminal record.

So unpalatable as it maybe retreating to the toilets, (what they usually mean by private rooms) may have to be the safest thing for possible legal reasons. I would like to be wrong on this, after all who wants to eat in a toilet, but I have the irritating habit sometimes of being right when I would rather be wrong.

:-(”

“OMG this is so wrong, there is nothin more natural than feeding your baby. The problem is boobs r seen as sexual objects now (andyman), that is NOT the reason we have them. There would of been no complaints if Laura was feeding her baby a bottle at the side of the pool. The reason u cant eat or drink at the pool side is cos of mess and rubbish, non of that is created by breast feedin!
The goverment encourages breast feeding it is ultimately the best thing for your baby, nothing yet can replace it. So why be against it? Are breast feeding mums meant to just sit in all day?? U can not time all the time when ur baby wants feeding. Would the other swimmers prefer a screaming baby??
Its nothing to do with being lazy (lee), it is a natural thing! not like eating a bag of crisps, which can make a mess and creates rubbish, (louise and lee)
How is breastfeeding getting ur knockers out?? (captain sensible??). Common decency would allow u to feed ur baby in a public place (lesta).”

“That is ridiculous logic to say that if they amend the "no food or drink" policy for breastfeeding, then they'll have to let everyone eat by the pool. The simple TRUE logic to that statement is that they would have to allow everyone to nurse by the pool. So by all means, if you feel the need to nurse and have a willing lactating woman, go ahead and nurse beside the pool.
It is clear that the lifeguard was in violation and discriminated against the mother, he didn't ask her to move to the area designated for nursing, which would be outside the pool area... NOT to the "private room" as the lifeguard said... as long as she left the area where no food was allowed, she would have been able to nurse. Of course, I have no knowledge of the location so it's hard to gauge how far away the area where food was allowed would have been from the pool. Some apparently illiterate people have made comments about the woman being too lazy to move... she didn't want to leave her older son unsupervised in the pool, and since there was no posted policy against nursing, why would she assume she wasn't allowed to do it there?

If you follow this logic, you can't argue with the ridiculousness of the belief that nursing should not be allowed at a pool: If breastfeeding is not an exception to the "no food or drink" policy at a pool for sanitation concerns, then the lactating woman should also not be allowed at the pool, as her milk has a much higher risk of getting in the water when she is swimming than when she is sitting outside the pool nursing. So every woman should be questioned prior to entry whether she is lactating and refused entry if she is. And to go a step further, a woman on her period shouldn't be allowed either, because she is going to contaminate the water with her blood. Inspections of the every woman's attire should be done prior to entry to establish whether she is menstruating or not. And men capable of reproduction shouldn't be allowed in the pool, because he might get an erection and his semen might contaminate the water. Upon entry all males must attest to their ability to create sperm. And since there is a fraction of our society that might actually ingest semen, they certainly should not be allowed in the areas around the pool, since they are carrying an unsanitary potential food source.

This is much more logical than the reasoning that to make an exception for nursing mothers on the policy would eventually lead to utter chaos and everyone would insist on eating by the pool.

I think it is an excellent point that the lifeguards have chewing gum and drink water, in violation of the "strict" rules. The only clear solution to this is to either make an exception to the rule, and post that exception to clarify the policy... it would have to be evaluated "Why is food and drink not allowed in this area? Exactly what are the "safety and hygiene" issues? Does breastfeeding actually meet those reasons of WHY they aren't allowed? How is it unsafe? How is it unhygienic?"

It must not be forgotten that the lifeguard did not request this mother to leave due to this policy, the lifeguard asked her to leave because he was violating this woman's rights to nurse in public, saying she couldn't do it in front of children... hello, it's kind of impossible to nurse any other way but in the presence of children.
The simple fact is, no matter what your opinion about nursing in public is, it is legally protected and this lifeguard's actions were a violation. Which is the bigger violation, a baby drinking milk in a "no food" zone, or an employee harassing a mother, endangering the welfare of her children, and breaking the much more significant policy "that should other customers have concerns or feel uncomfortable in seeing a mother breastfeeding, they would be advised to move to another area, to support the mother's right to feed their child." The person that is uncomfortable get's asked to leave, not the mothe”

“To Ian: I do actually nurse in the bakery aisle at the grocery. Anywhere, for that matter. The poor pathetic formula babies are fed anywhere so my baby gets fed anywhere too. Just the other day, I fed mine smack in the middle of the pool!”

“Andyman,me lack of intelligence?You can't even spell my name....lol”