A mother who was breastfeeding her child at a pool had the police called on her, and now other mothers are fighting back.
Misty Daugereaux spoke to CafeMom about what happened, explaining that it all started while she was playing with her toddler at a public pool in their Texas hometown.
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“I had my legs extended out and [my son] Maxx was standing in front of me. During that time Maxx turned around and started rubbing his face in my chest,” she said, explaining that she knew this meant he was hungry.
Daugereaux adjusted her swimsuit so Maxx could nurse but “he quickly got distracted and decided he wanted to watch the kids [and was] over nursing at that time.” She then joked that this is “typical behavior at that age!”
This went on a for a little while, with Daugereaux saying, “Each time I let him latch on and when he pulled off I pulled everything back in place.”
Soon, she says she was approached by a young lifeguard who told her, “You can’t do that here. This is a public pool.”
Daugereaux replied by telling him that she did in fact have the right to feed her son wherever she wanted and if he had an issue with that then he “should go talk to someone that might” have more knowledge of the rules.
He left and came back with a manager who echoed the lifeguard and told Daugereaux that she could not breastfeed there. After again explaining that she had the right to breastfeed wherever she needed to.
“No ma’am. You need to be covered up!” the manager fired back, stating that it’s the pool’s policy that nursing mothers cover themselves.
“After she walked away, I was shaking,” Daugereaux went on to tell CafeMom. “I had a flood of thoughts going through my head. Am I right? Can they kick me out! What is about to happen now? Should I call my husband to come up here! [Oh my God] I wish my best friend Kristin was here! (Which was our original plan till she had a family emergency.)”
The manager ended up calling the police and Daugereaux told them, “I don’t stand for much, but I will stand for that. I’m not being disrespectful. I don’t want to cause a scene, but I’m gonna feed my baby.”
Soon after the story had gotten around, groups of nursing mothers who were irate at how Daugereaux was treated showed up to the pool and staged a “nurse-in,” which is where nursing mothers peacefully protest establishments that have known to be hostile to public nursing.
“I remember hugging a mom and thanking her for being there!” Daugereaux recalled on the nurse-in. “There were so many sweet happy healthy babies all attached to the mommas! I have a Velcro baby, so to see so many others was nice.”
“It is our divine instinct to protect and nourish our young!” she later added. “Continue to do what you body was naturally made to do.”