Mum’s fury as Mothercare staff stop her breastfeeding baby

Aug 28 2008 By Emma McKinney

A MIDLAND woman was outraged after she was asked to stop breast-feeding in Mothercare.

Leda Reynolds said she was “mortified” by her ordeal at the mother and baby store in High Street, Bromsgrove.

“Verity was just a week old and it was the first time I had taken her out of the house,” said the 33-year-old from Rubery.

“We were getting ready to pay for some things for Verity when she started crying.

“A member of staff at Mothercare said if I wanted to breast-feed her I could use their fitting room.

“I had been in there for around five minutes when there was a knock on the door and another member of staff was telling me I needed to get out because it was a fitting room, not a feeding room.

“She was really rude and aggressive and she left me feeling totally embarrassed.”

A Mothercare spokeswoman said the staff member had merely asked Ms Reynolds how long she would be breast-feeding as there was another customer waiting to use the fitting room.

“It was certainly not our intention to give Ms Reynolds the impression she was rushed or hurried with her breast-feeding,” she added.

“We would apologise to Ms Reynolds if she felt the situation wasn’t handled as well as it could have been.

“We make every effort to ensure that breast-feeding mothers in our stores are supported.”

Ms Reynolds said Verity, who is now two weeks old, was also left upset by the incident.

“I had to finish feeding Verity before she had had enough milk, so that left her even more distressed,” she said.

“It’s not as though I was breast-feeding in the middle of the shop and I had originally been told it was all right by another member of staff.”

Now Ms Reynolds, who is also mum to three-year-old William, has made an official complaint to Mothercare and has vowed never to shop at the store again.

“Over the years I must have spent thousands of pounds in that shop,” added Ms Reynolds, a Birmingham Mail journalist.

“I’m shocked that I was treated in such a manner, especially as Mothercare is a store t for mums and their babies, sells breast-feeding products, and pushes the message that ‘Breast is Best’.”