A Shelton mother is organizing a “nurse in” to protest the treatment of a mom who was allegedly asked to cover up while breastfeeding her newborn son at the Westfield Trumbull Mall Monday.
Danielle Elwood of Shelton said a security guard at the mall asked her friend to cover up while the woman was in the mall’s food court.
“She covered up. At that point she sent me a text message asking me about breastfeeding laws in Connecticut. I said ‘No, you don’t have to cover up,” Elwood said.
The woman, from Bridgeport, left the mall.
Elwood did not witness the event. She said her friend does not want to go public about what happened — but gave Elwood permission to organize a “nurse-in” on her behalf.
As of Tuesday, about eight moms who breastfeed were planning to nurse their babies in the mall’s food court at 12:30 p.m. May 31. A few other mothers who no longer breastfeed plan to go as a show of support, Elwood said.
“We’re going to go there, we’ll sit down in the food court and we’ll do what’s meant to be done in a food court — feed our kids. Everybody else is eating there,” Elwood said.
Lisa Herrmann, Westfield’s regional marketing director, said the company had not heard about the planned “nurse in” or the alleged event that inspired it until contacted by the Valley Indy.
Herrmann said security officers at Westfield properties are specifically told not to approach breastfeeding moms.
In addition, Westfield shopping centers cater specifically to moms and their families.
“We welcome moms. We encourage nursing moms to come and enjoy the day at our centers. We even have comfortable, relaxing touch points throughout the mall, including family lounges for moms to be able to relax and sit down and nurse their child or change diapers or do whatever they have to do,” Herrmann said. “We love moms.”
Herrmann said she hopes to speak to the mom who was allegedly told to cover up.
Elwood, a mom of three young children who writes about the politics of parenting at Momotics and Babble has been spreading the word through Facebook about the “nurse in.”
Connecticut is one of 44 states with laws “that specifically allow women to breastfeed in any public or private location,” according to information from the National Conference of State Legislatures.
There are three laws in the state that deal specifically with breastfeeding.
