Opinions please, re NIP (long)

I was at our local YMCA today and in the pool when my 1 yr old son became
hungry. My daughter was having a swimming lesson at the time and I didn't
want to leave the pool to nurse him, because she was having a stressful
lesson today.

I sat on the steps into the pool, pulled up my nursing bathing suit (not
easy to find, let me tell you!), exposed less flesh than some of the ladies
there were showing with their bikinis, latched him on and he nursed for
about 5 minutes max. During the actual nursing session no flesh could be
seen. He pulled off briefly, exposing my nipple for about 5 seconds. I
thought nothing of it, carried on a conversation with another mom and after
the lesson was over, played in the pool with both kids.

While I was minding my own business, one of the directors approached me and
asked me very "nicely" if next time I had to nurse if I could be more
discreet, not do it in the pool and go to the deck where I could cover up
with a towel and nobody would see what I was doing. He went on to explain
that they've been through this with all the "Y"s (I don't know what he meant
by "this", but whatever) and this was a family place and he wanted to ask
this before he received any complaints from anyone. WTF? At the time, so
bowled over was I by this request, I just nodded dumbly and said "OK", and
that I didn't know what the laws were in this part of the state, I just
assumed it was like all the other places which protects bf'ing mothers. At
that point he back-tracked and said "Oh, no we don't mind you doing it, but
just be more discreet". It has been bothering me all day and I feel like I
should respond but don't know if I am totally over-reacting. He made me
feel like I was doing something illegal or obscene, when all I was doing was
feeding my baby.

Anyway, here is the new bill that passed recently for our state (lot of
legal jargon)

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/legtext...ls/hb2376p.pdf

And a link to Amy Miliron's website (who is responsible for getting this
bill
passed)http://www.healthyfoodhealthychildre...ion/index.html

Do you think I should write to him and include this bill? Or write over his
head? Or not write at all?

I consider myself a lactivist but I am not confident enough or outspoken
enough to deal with it at the time!

Opinions please?

Thank you!

CY

"CY" wrote in message
news:i9rjg.1020110$xm3.273729@attbi_s21...
I was at our local YMCA today and in the pool when my 1 yr old son became
hungry. My daughter was having a swimming lesson at the time and I didn't
want to leave the pool to nurse him, because she was having a stressful
lesson today.

I sat on the steps into the pool, pulled up my nursing bathing suit (not
easy to find, let me tell you!), exposed less flesh than some of the
ladies
there were showing with their bikinis, latched him on and he nursed for
about 5 minutes max. During the actual nursing session no flesh could be
seen. He pulled off briefly, exposing my nipple for about 5 seconds. I
thought nothing of it, carried on a conversation with another mom and
after
the lesson was over, played in the pool with both kids.

While I was minding my own business, one of the directors approached me
and
asked me very "nicely" if next time I had to nurse if I could be more
discreet, not do it in the pool and go to the deck where I could cover up
with a towel and nobody would see what I was doing. He went on to explain
that they've been through this with all the "Y"s (I don't know what he
meant
by "this", but whatever) and this was a family place and he wanted to ask
this before he received any complaints from anyone. WTF? At the time, so
bowled over was I by this request, I just nodded dumbly and said "OK", and
that I didn't know what the laws were in this part of the state, I just
assumed it was like all the other places which protects bf'ing mothers.
At
that point he back-tracked and said "Oh, no we don't mind you doing it,
but
just be more discreet". It has been bothering me all day and I feel like I
should respond but don't know if I am totally over-reacting. He made me
feel like I was doing something illegal or obscene, when all I was doing
was
feeding my baby.

Anyway, here is the new bill that passed recently for our state (lot of
legal jargon)

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/legtext...ls/hb2376p.pdf

And a link to Amy Miliron's website (who is responsible for getting this
bill
passed)http://www.healthyfoodhealthychildre...ion/index.html

Do you think I should write to him and include this bill? Or write over
his
head? Or not write at all?

I consider myself a lactivist but I am not confident enough or outspoken
enough to deal with it at the time!

Opinions please?

Thank you!

Dunno how exactly the laws differ there to here (oz), but the fact that he
asked you to "cover up with a towel" and "be more discreet" means to me that
they are discriminating against your right to bf. In Australia, this would
fall foul of our anti-discrimination laws (I always think "If I were
bottle-feeding, would they still ask me to move?").

Here, I'd say to contact the ABA for support in writing to him ... is there
a LLL where you are that can support you?

What particularly annoys me with this is that he said its a "family place".
(This is one of my pet peeves). Babies are often in "family places" what do
people like him expect babies to do when they're hungry.
I'm still bf my 22 mo DS and I like that my almost 4 yo DD knows that this
is the natural and normal. When DS weans and the kids no longer see bf on a
daily basis, I'd welcome any and all opportunities for them to see other
kids being bf so they'll always think its normal and natural.

Amanda

CY wrote:

Do you think I should write to him and include this bill? Or write over his
head? Or not write at all?

Write him and copy his boss. :-)

Which Y? We need a nurse-in. I'll come by and nurse the
three-year-old; you'll look really discreet by comparison!

--
C, mama to three year old nursling

LOL - yeah...it's the Y out in Copper Basin (Queen Creek). Good idea, we'll
get Jess out there too, pumping, lol!
wrote in message
oups.com...
CY wrote:

Do you think I should write to him and include this bill? Or write over
his
head? Or not write at all?

Write him and copy his boss. :-)

Which Y? We need a nurse-in. I'll come by and nurse the
three-year-old; you'll look really discreet by comparison!

--
C, mama to three year old nursling

Shoot - if I'd thought about it, I shoulda just nursed my 4 year old too.
Tandemming in the pool...that would've showed him!
wrote in message
oups.com...
CY wrote:

Do you think I should write to him and include this bill? Or write over
his
head? Or not write at all?

Write him and copy his boss. :-)

Which Y? We need a nurse-in. I'll come by and nurse the
three-year-old; you'll look really discreet by comparison!

--
C, mama to three year old nursling

"CY" wrote in message
news:efsjg.1020182$xm3.506920@attbi_s21...
LOL - yeah...it's the Y out in Copper Basin (Queen Creek). Good idea,
we'll get Jess out there too, pumping, lol!

I weaned, remember? But I'm still game. I need a baby fix.

And 'sides which, CY and I haven't seen each other since the Sproglette was
tinybaby. A hex on her for moving.

Jess

"CY" wrote in message
news:i9rjg.1020110$xm3.273729@attbi_s21...
I was at our local YMCA today and in the pool when my 1 yr old son became
hungry. My daughter was having a swimming lesson at the time and I didn't
want to leave the pool to nurse him, because she was having a stressful
lesson today.
While I was minding my own business, one of the directors approached me
and asked me very "nicely" if next time I had to nurse if I could be more
discreet, not do it in the pool and go to the deck where I could cover up
with a towel and nobody would see what I was doing.

Ignore him. The law is pretty specific, and there's nothing they can do. You
have every lawful reason/right to be present where you were, which means
nursing there was completely inappropriate. He has no grounds to ask you to
move.

Jess

"CY" wrote in message
news:i9rjg.1020110$xm3.273729@attbi_s21...
I was at our local YMCA today and in the pool when my 1 yr old son became
hungry. My daughter was having a swimming lesson at the time and I didn't
want to leave the pool to nurse him, because she was having a stressful
lesson today.

I sat on the steps into the pool, pulled up my nursing bathing suit (not
easy to find, let me tell you!), exposed less flesh than some of the
ladies there were showing with their bikinis, latched him on and he nursed
for about 5 minutes max. During the actual nursing session no flesh could
be seen. He pulled off briefly, exposing my nipple for about 5 seconds.
I thought nothing of it, carried on a conversation with another mom and
after the lesson was over, played in the pool with both kids.

While I was minding my own business, one of the directors approached me
and asked me very "nicely" if next time I had to nurse if I could be more
discreet, not do it in the pool and go to the deck where I could cover up
with a towel and nobody would see what I was doing. He went on to explain
that they've been through this with all the "Y"s (I don't know what he
meant by "this", but whatever) and this was a family place and he wanted
to ask this before he received any complaints from anyone. WTF? At the
time, so bowled over was I by this request, I just nodded dumbly and said
"OK", and that I didn't know what the laws were in this part of the state,
I just assumed it was like all the other places which protects bf'ing
mothers. At that point he back-tracked and said "Oh, no we don't mind you
doing it, but just be more discreet". It has been bothering me all day and
I feel like I should respond but don't know if I am totally over-reacting.
He made me feel like I was doing something illegal or obscene, when all I
was doing was feeding my baby.

Anyway, here is the new bill that passed recently for our state (lot of
legal jargon)

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/legtext...ls/hb2376p.pdf

And a link to Amy Miliron's website (who is responsible for getting this
bill
passed)http://www.healthyfoodhealthychildre...ion/index.html

Do you think I should write to him and include this bill? Or write over
his head? Or not write at all?

I consider myself a lactivist but I am not confident enough or outspoken
enough to deal with it at the time!

Opinions please?

Thank you!

CY

Well, if I were in your position, I would be kind of offended. You were
told it's a family place. Is your son part of your family? Is a son, in
general, not part of any family? What, exactly, does nursing your baby have
to do with families, anyways?
I could maybe see if you sat in the pool waters or something feeding and the
argument was that there's a rule that applies to all about eating/drinking
while in the pool. I would see nothing wrong with sitting on the edge of
the pool or on the pool deck to nurse my baby. I would NOT go hide off in
the change rooms or something to feed a baby, and I would ask that director
if he eats under a wet, thick towel in an assumably warmer and humid
environment, as most swimming pools tend to be. If there was a rule (and
this was used as a reason and argument) about food in the pool, as that's
really what you were doing - feeding your baby - then I could understand
that, MAYBE. I don't see how offering a year old baby a breast to nurse or
a sippy cup or bottle is any different, and if you sat there with a bottle
or he sat with you with a sippy cup, would it be the same? Probably not.
Babies get hungry often. I do believe, though, that some places are more
appropriate to openly feed than others - I, personally, would probably
excuse myself to nurse my baby in a place like a wedding reception or in the
middle of a funeral, but, mind you, if I didn't have to, I wouldn't attend
an event like that with an infant... But other than that, park, pool,
restaurant, mall, whatever, I'd be fairly put off if I was asked "nicely" or
not, to be 'more discreet'
Write a letter! Worst case scenario is that your letter is ignored and
tossed into the garbage. I'd complain about being asked to pretty much not
feed my baby in a place where some people walk around with their boobs and
butts nearly hanging out anyways. You weren't off showing off your sexy
body and breasts to the swimming pool crowd, you were feeding your baby
while his big sister had a swimming lesson... If any of that made any sense
at all (it's 2 minutes to midnight here and I've been doing laundry non-stop
tonight and last night with little sleep lol)

**snort** I *hope* you meant APPROPRIATE! You're supposed to be on my side,
woman! LOL!
"Jess" wrote

snipped
which means nursing there was completely inappropriate. He has no grounds
to ask you to move.

Jess

"Jess" wrote in message
news:Unsjg.137264$k%3.114196@dukeread12...

"CY" wrote in message
news:efsjg.1020182$xm3.506920@attbi_s21...
LOL - yeah...it's the Y out in Copper Basin (Queen Creek). Good idea,
we'll get Jess out there too, pumping, lol!

I weaned, remember? But I'm still game. I need a baby fix.

Yeah, I thought you had, but I couldn't let the opportunity pass by without
mentioning your name, now could I?

And 'sides which, CY and I haven't seen each other since the Sproglette
was tinybaby. A hex on her for moving.

Sowwy

Jess