Banned from breastfeeding in Mothercare!
A WOMAN was left stunned after being told not to breastfeed her sick son in a Mothercare shop when he started crying.
Zoe Frangou, 29, had visited a branch of the retailer, the UK’s largest high street chain for mother and baby merchandise, with three-month-old Elias.
She said he was on antibiotics for an ear infection and had been asleep, but then woke up and began crying to be fed.
Mrs Frangou, a new mother, said that after sitting down in a quiet area of the shop to breastfeed Elias, she was approached by a member of staff and told that she was not allowed to do so inside the store.
She lodged a formal complaint with the company and has since aired her grievance on Facebook over her treatment at the store at the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent.
‘What is shocking is that this was in one of the largest mum and baby retailers in the UK,’ she wrote.
‘I am disgusted at how I was treated and that the welfare of me and baby were not considered. This was even more stressful because he has been very unwell.’
Her Facebook post attracted hundreds of comments, with others saying they had suffered similar experiences. Mrs Frangou, who works in finance, said that in the past Mothercare provided feeding stations where mothers were able to breastfeed their children discreetly without attracting attention, but these have been removed.
She added: ‘Ironically, I thought Mothercare would be a perfect opportunity to breastfeed. I was with a friend who needed to do some shopping there, so figured I could quietly sit there.
‘At first they tried to tell me I couldn’t feed because they were moving boxes around, but if that were the case they shouldn’t have babies anywhere near the store.’
By law, businesses are prevented from discriminating against mothers who choose to breastfeed their children. A Mothercare spokesman said: ‘We would like to sincerely apologise to Mrs Frangou for the disappointing way she was treated in our store. We provide all our stores with our breastfeeding policy, which clearly states our full support for all nursing mothers.
‘Our customers are welcome to nurse their children anywhere on the premises and for those who prefer some privacy, we provide comfortable feeding facilities.’