Attitudes about breastfeeding slow to change

Gym showed ignorance of province’s human rights,

“How old is your baby?”

“One week,” I replied happily. We were at the doctor’s office for our first checkup. It was our first outing together. I had fed my baby, Cruz, before I left the house, but then I heard the familiar cry.

“I think your baby is hungry,” said the woman I had been chatting with.

“I know,” I said with a gulp. And that was the first time I pulled my boob out in public.

Since that day four months ago, I’ve breastfed in parks, restaurants, coffee shops, vehicles, on a plane, at backyard barbecues, a wedding ceremony, friends’ houses, all without incident.

That is until I went back to the gym for the first time since my pregnancy.

It was my first time leaving my baby with anyone other than a family member. I explained my nervousness to the young woman hired to mind children six weeks and older at GoodLife Fitness.

I explained he would likely be hungry in an hour, and asked if it would be OK if I came back to nurse him.

“Of course,” she said. “No problem.”

I thought of nothing else while I struggled through my first postpartum workout, taking my headphones out every few minutes to see if I could hear him crying.

I went back in and was happy to see my smiling baby. I took him, sat in a kiddie chair, faced the wall and breastfed.

About three minutes later, I started to sense whispers among staff. Children were coming up to see the baby and the child minder would shoo them away nervously. I finished, gave Cruz a kiss and continued my workout.

Before we left I asked if there was anything I forgot in my diaper bag? Anything I should do differently in the future?

“No everything was good. But I asked my manager about breastfeeding and you can’t do that here next time,” the woman said.

“Oh?” I said, annoyed. “OK, where’s the better place to go?”

“The change room area would be OK. It’s just that there’s kids in here.”

“The change room?” I repeated like a question.

“Well yeah. There’s like little kids here,” she said as if I had committed an act of sexual exploitation. “Maybe it would be different if you covered up. Or I can give him a bottle, you know?”

I didn’t feel like explaining to this obviously childfree 20-something that my breastfed baby is on a bottle strike right now. We’re weeks into negotiations, but it’s not looking good. Instead I pleaded my case.

“You know, it’s really not progressive to ask a breastfeeding woman to feed her baby in the bathroom.”

I should’ve talked to the manager and told them what they were asking was illegal under the Saskatchewan Human Rights Act. But I was too upset. I hid my face in my hood and went to my car. I had a quick cry and then went home and tweeted my frustration.

I was happy to see the corporate GoodLife office tweet back right away, stating that is not their policy whatsoever. They called the next day, apologized and the employees involved have since been educated on the human rights code that’s been in place for 40 years now and the club’s one-line breastfeeding policy in place since 2012 that states: a breastfeeding woman can feed her baby anywhere in the club anytime.

“We’re in the middle of a cultural shift right now,” writes Martha Neovard, a breastfeeding educator with Family First Doulas.

“Breastfeeding has become very common and people are just now beginning to see women actually out and breastfeeding their babies. These kinds of cultural shifts take time.”

I contemplated not going back to the gym, and purchasing some at-home workouts so I can tend to my baby as needed without judgment.

“When you breastfeed your baby as needed, covered or uncovered, you help society as a whole to shift another step forward,” writes Neovard. “The more people that see breastfeeding, the more normal it becomes.”

So I will go back to GoodLife. And I’m going to continue to use my breasts for their intended purpose in front of the people who were uncomfortable with my choice. And I hope more mothers join me.