One day, unfortunately, I imagine that I will be one of you. Trying to avoid that store in the mall, but being dragged into it anyways. Dealing with pitying looks from other parents as my daughters throw tantrums over not being able to buy the stable for their over-priced made-in-china American Girl dolls' horse that Grandma went behind my back and bought for them. Yes, the day will one day come...
And hopefully I won't be breastfeeding when it happens.
A couple of weeks ago, a woman who was attempting to breastfeed in a New York American Girl store (609 5th Avenue at 49th Street location) was allegedly kicked out of the sitting area and moved to a fitting room, where she had to listen to the saleswomen talk about her on the other side of the door.
Read her husband's blog about it at The Skeptical Atheist.
American Girl's response to the matter:
“American Girl supports mothers’ rights to breastfeed in any location in our stores. As a courtesy, we make available more private areas in all of our stores for women who prefer this.
We’re taking this misunderstanding very seriously and are looking into this matter at our New York location. We are truly sorry for any discomfort our customer experienced and have reached out to her directly to further discuss this with her.”
While American Girl claims to support mothers' rights to breastfeed in any location, it seems that they need to do some training with their employees on their company policies and the law in general.
i feel like most companies have a policy supporting breastfeeding, but do not pass this policy along to their employees. on the other hand i usually feel more comfortable nursing in a fitting room, but that's just my own insecurity.
ReplyDeleteI have nursed in a fitting room too- sometimes it's just less distracting in there, both for me and baby!
ReplyDeleteI recently nursed in the Gap and it was a really nice experience- the attendant even asked if she could get me some water! Far cry from the experience at American Girl.