BF in IKEA - customer complained!

This is second hand as it happened to a freind of mine last week who's
baby started to cry so she sat down in one of the IKEA rooms and very
discreetly fed him. She noticd a man come over to look at the display
and he seemed a bit showcked at her, she then watched him go over to
teh IKEA staff, who then went to an older IKEA staff emmenr. NExt
thing a manager comes over to ask if she new that tehre was a feeding
room and that a customer had complained about her.

She said the complainant was male, mid 30's. Teh feeding room was on
teh other floor and teh baby was hungry then.

baby crying, must dash

teapot

This is second hand as it happened to a freind of mine last week who's
baby started to cry so she sat down in one of the IKEA rooms and very
discreetly fed him. She noticd a man come over to look at the display
and he seemed a bit showcked at her, she then watched him go over to
teh IKEA staff, who then went to an older IKEA staff emmenr. NExt
thing a manager comes over to ask if she new that tehre was a feeding
room and that a customer had complained about her.

She said the complainant was male, mid 30's. Teh feeding room was on
teh other floor and teh baby was hungry then.

Yikes, though tbh, I don't think I would feed in the displays, it's very
rare that a baby suddenly needs feeding with absolutely no warning. I'd go
to the cafe, but never to a feeding room, after all, no one makes me eat
in a room all alone.

teapot wrote:
This is second hand as it happened to a freind of mine last week who's
baby started to cry so she sat down in one of the IKEA rooms and very
discreetly fed him. She noticd a man come over to look at the display
and he seemed a bit showcked at her, she then watched him go over to
teh IKEA staff, who then went to an older IKEA staff emmenr. NExt
thing a manager comes over to ask if she new that tehre was a feeding
room and that a customer had complained about her.

She said the complainant was male, mid 30's. Teh feeding room was on
teh other floor and teh baby was hungry then.

baby crying, must dash

I don't have a problem with her feeding the baby in Ikea, but I wouldn't
have done so on the furniture displays. I would worry about getting milk
or spit-up on the furniture - it just seems rude. Of course, I also don't
bring drinks or food into stores for the same reason and I see all sorts
of people walking around stores carrying Cokes.

I'm assuming the man probably complained because he was offended by the
actual act of nursing, but I would probably be offended at her choice of
locations. I don't think NIP is a problem, but you need to be considerate
of other people's property. A mother shouldn't really bottle-feed a baby
just anywhere either.

Manda

wrote:

I don't have a problem with her feeding the baby in Ikea, but I
wouldn't have done so on the furniture displays. I would worry about
getting milk or spit-up on the furniture - it just seems rude.

I would. If there's a nice, comfy chair on display, then I'd be perfectly
willing to take advantage of it, rather than having to go to another floor
and look for a feeding room, all the while trying to pacify a hungry baby
until it can be found. It's display furniture, it's there to be tested.

Once past the newborn stage, I certainly never had problems with getting
milk anywhere but where it was meant to go.

--
iphigenia
www.tristyn.net
"i have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
i do not think that they will sing to me."

teapot wrote:
This is second hand as it happened to a freind of mine last week who's
baby started to cry so she sat down in one of the IKEA rooms and very
discreetly fed him.

IKEA appears to be a rather BF-friendly company. I haven't been to the
website in a while, but I remember someone posting once that one of the
images they used for the front page of their site included a woman
breastfeeding while sitting on a couch.

Perhaps the manager wasn't aware of it, but a call to the general management
might be worth a shot.

--
iphigenia
www.tristyn.net
"i have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
i do not think that they will sing to me."

Anne Rogers wrote in message ...
This is second hand as it happened to a freind of mine last week who's
baby started to cry so she sat down in one of the IKEA rooms and very
discreetly fed him. She noticd a man come over to look at the display
and he seemed a bit showcked at her, she then watched him go over to
teh IKEA staff, who then went to an older IKEA staff emmenr. NExt
thing a manager comes over to ask if she new that tehre was a feeding
room and that a customer had complained about her.

She said the complainant was male, mid 30's. Teh feeding room was on
teh other floor and teh baby was hungry then.

Yikes, though tbh, I don't think I would feed in the displays, it's very
rare that a baby suddenly needs feeding with absolutely no warning. I'd go
to the cafe, but never to a feeding room, after all, no one makes me eat
in a room all alone.

Baby was crying so I couldnt finish - IKEA was packed, she was tired
and the baby was hungry and she couldnt face the maze of displays back
to the feeding room. I have nursed in the cafe loads of times, no
problems.

teapot

wrote:
teapot wrote:

This is second hand as it happened to a freind of mine last week who's
baby started to cry so she sat down in one of the IKEA rooms and very
discreetly fed him. She noticd a man come over to look at the display
and he seemed a bit showcked at her, she then watched him go over to
teh IKEA staff, who then went to an older IKEA staff emmenr. NExt
thing a manager comes over to ask if she new that tehre was a feeding
room and that a customer had complained about her.


She said the complainant was male, mid 30's. Teh feeding room was on
teh other floor and teh baby was hungry then.


baby crying, must dash


I don't have a problem with her feeding the baby in Ikea, but I wouldn't
have done so on the furniture displays. I would worry about getting milk
or spit-up on the furniture - it just seems rude. Of course, I also don't
bring drinks or food into stores for the same reason and I see all sorts
of people walking around stores carrying Cokes.


IKEAs displays are SUPPOSED to be "tried out" and in fact their recent
ads here show people treating them as if thye were already purchased
(family argument in the kitchen for instance, in one) Frankly, Id rather
someone bfd on a couch than argued in the kitchen, and with every TD&H
clambering over the displays anyhow, and a restaurant right in the
store, I sort of think a few spills and wear marks are the price of
setting up displays that are designed to encourage people to feel at
home and at liberty to test the furniture.

JMHO.

Dawn

teapot wrote:

This is second hand as it happened to a freind of mine last week who's
baby started to cry so she sat down in one of the IKEA rooms and very
discreetly fed him. She noticd a man come over to look at the display
and he seemed a bit showcked at her, she then watched him go over to
teh IKEA staff, who then went to an older IKEA staff emmenr. NExt
thing a manager comes over to ask if she new that tehre was a feeding
room and that a customer had complained about her.

She said the complainant was male, mid 30's. Teh feeding room was on
teh other floor and teh baby was hungry then.

baby crying, must dash

teapot

Ugh. Does the manager know that the feeding room is also the room for
diaper changes and the chair is right next to the diaper pail? It's
pretty stinky in the "feeding" room. That's why I don't used that room
in the IKEA near our house.

I have sat in one of the sofas in the display area and nursed without
any problems. I hope that was a one-time thing.

Jeanne

IKEA identifies itself pretty strongly with its Swedish origins, and I
think Sweden is one of the most breastfeeding-est nations in the world,
so I would think their company and store policies would reflect this.

I also think that just because there is a so-called feeding room, that
we are in no way compelled to use it. It's nice it's there, handy to
take advantage of, but I don't think its existence either socially or
legally precludes us from nursing where we see fit.

I also strongly agree with the response which pointed out the recent
television commercials encouraging trying out the rooms like they were a
real life part of your home already. Maybe you're considering purchasing
some furniture, but one of your most important criteria is how
comfortable it is for nursing!!!

I wonder which IKEA store this happened in?

-Karen, mom to Henry 3 and someone due 4/24/04-

teapot wrote:

This is second hand as it happened to a freind of mine last week who's
baby started to cry so she sat down in one of the IKEA rooms and very
discreetly fed him. She noticd a man come over to look at the display
and he seemed a bit showcked at her, she then watched him go over to
teh IKEA staff, who then went to an older IKEA staff emmenr. NExt
thing a manager comes over to ask if she new that tehre was a feeding
room and that a customer had complained about her.

She said the complainant was male, mid 30's. Teh feeding room was on
teh other floor and teh baby was hungry then.


Similar thing happened to me 2 months ago at our local IKEA. Cafeteria
was full, feeding room on that floor only has one chair and it was
occupied by a FF mother, so what was I supposed to do? While I was
bfeeding DS, a man approached and asked my friend (I was tucked in a
corner behind her) why am I bfeeding there, don't I know there is a
feeding room? My friend told him the room was full and than his wife
(the complaining customer's wife) lead him away before I coud say my
piece :-) He did not go to the manager, AFAIK. He was also in his 30's
and from India.

While it's great that IKEA provides baby rooms, that is clearly not
enough, at least at the two stores I've been to (here in Northern
California) - there are only two rooms (one on each floor) and they
only have one or two chairs . IKEA has sooooooo many customers, and
most of them with children, that it shouldn't come as a surprise that
babies are beeing fed all over the place.

--

Tanja

Mommy to Tamara (27 Dec 1998) and
Stefan (19 May 2003)