Mom ‘stunned’ to be warned about breastfeeding ‘because eating and drinking aren’t allowed’
Released: 06:53 EDT, October 21, 2022 | Updated: 5:55pm EDT, Oct. 23, 2022
A mother was “stunned” after she was accused of breastfeeding her three-month-old son in a museum “because eating and drinking are not allowed”.
Fae Church, from Haverhill, Suffolk, said one of the staff told her “it’s not okay because eating and drinking aren’t allowed in the museum”.
The 35-year-old visited the University Museum of Zoology in Cambridge with her husband and two children on Saturday.
Ms Church said she wanted to find a quiet place to breastfeed her son before breastfeeding him.
Ms Church (pictured) said she wanted to find a quiet place to breastfeed her son before breastfeeding him
The mother-of-two said she sat “pretty happy” and breastfed Reuben to give him a “little feed” for five minutes.
She said a few people walked past her without paying much attention, but a staff member said her actions were “not ok, because no food and drinks are allowed to be consumed in the museum”.
Ms Church added: “I felt completely humiliated like a little girl at school, only when I get called names, I didn’t know what to say.
“I was absolutely shaken by it, I just couldn’t believe it. She made me feel humiliated by it. I only felt about three inches tall at that moment, it wasn’t nice.
The mother-of-two said she sat “pretty happy” and breastfed Reuben to give him a “little feed” for five minutes
“It was the way she said it, there was no kindness in her comments. Most would have helped me because I had a big buggy with me and you have your baby in your arms, it’s difficult to find breastfeeding places.
“And I’ve never been to the café upstairs, I didn’t know if it was open or how to get there. If a baby is crying, just find a place to soothe them as soon as possible.
“If she came over and said, ‘This is a nice area, or I can help you go there,’ that would have been totally normal and a nice touch.
‘She seemed annoyed with me. It was just bizarre and it really shook me.
Ms. Church said she had breastfed her two children and this was the first time she had heard anything negative about her in public.
Ms Church said she breastfed her two children and this is the first time she has received anything negative against her in public. (Pictured: File Image: Dinosaur skeletons on the first floor of the Nagoya City Science Museum)
She said she and her husband Aaron wanted to confront the employee but couldn’t find her at the museum.
The University Museum of Zoology states on its website under the heading “Visiting with Families” that “Breastfeeding and bottle-feeding are welcome in all museum spaces”.
A spokesman for the University Museum of Zoology said: “On behalf of all the staff and volunteers at the Museum of Zoology, we can only offer our heartfelt apologies for what happened to Fae and how she felt.
“We allow and welcome breastfeeding and bottle feeding in all of our public areas.
The 35-year-old mother visited the University Museum of Zoology in Cambridge with her husband and two children on Saturday (File Image: Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology)
“We pride ourselves on being a family friendly museum and it’s horrible that a visitor should be treated in this way.
“The volunteer she spoke to made an unfortunate mistake that doesn’t reflect our culture or politics.
“As soon as we found out what had happened, we shared it with the entire volunteer and staff team.
“We’ve made sure they know how important it is for visitors to feel comfortable about breastfeeding and bottle-feeding in the museum, to avoid making visitors feel like them, with some specific pointers on how to support parents who are.” ask about quieter places they can use.
“We will also be addressing this more closely when introducing new volunteers to work in the galleries.
“Our Visitor Engagement Volunteers are typically an incredibly supportive team, helping people get the most out of their visits – it’s so unusual for things to go as wrong as they have here.
“We hope that with these additional communications such events will not happen again.”
