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Mum shamed for breastfeeding at public pool, told to move to change room cubicle: 'Humiliating and degrading'

By Merryn Porter |

A mother has taken on the operator of a public swimming pool after she was left "humiliated and degraded" when a staff member reprimanded her for breastfeeding in public.

Marguerite Sinnott, a mother-of-three and solicitor from Dublin in Ireland, took to Twitter this week to outline her ordeal, which took place at the UCD Sport & Fitness facility at University College Dublin.

The facility, dubbed "Dublin South's Premier Gym and Olympic Swimming Pool," boasts a 50-metre swimming pool complete with family swim and leisure swim sections, and a "fun, purpose-built toddler play pool with fountains and sprinklers," according to its website.

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Marguerite Sinnott was shamed for breastfeeding at a public pool
Marguerite Sinnott has called out the operators of a pool where she was shamed for breastfeeding her baby. (LinkedIn)

But it was anything but family-friendly when Sinnott visited the pool this week, after she was "shamed, in public, for feeding my baby." ?

"Yesterday at the @UCDFitness swimming pool I was shocked to be reprimanded by a staff member for breastfeeding my seven-month-old baby, asked to leave, and to go to a changing cubicle to feed him," she wrote.

Sinnott explained that she was "alone in the toddler pool with my baby and my two other small children" when the baby became agitated.

"I sat out on the side of the toddler pool to settle him by breastfeeding while watching my older two.

"?Minutes later, a @UCDFitness staff member arrived, called me out of the toddler pool and scoldingly advised: 'I have been made aware that you are breastfeeding your child.'"

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The UCD Sport & Fitness facility pool where a woman was shamed for breastfeeding
The UCD Sport & Fitness facility boasts a 50-metre pool, pictured above. (ucd.ie)

"They told me I wasn't allowed to breastfeed my child here and I needed to leave the pool area and go into a cubicle in the changing room to feed him. This was humiliating and degrading in front of my young son and daughter," she continued.

Sinnott said when pressed for a reason, the staff member first talked of "health and safety, then policies, then that someone else in the pool complained, that the baby might vomit, that it wasn't safe for my baby."

"For the record, breastfeeding poses no risk to anyone in a pool," she wrote. "To me it sounds like a mixed bag of limp and insincere excuses, none of which appear in their published policies (and rightly so because it would be illegal to do so). All of which operate to humiliate breastfeeding women, trample on their legal rights and excuse bullying.

"I would like to know from @UCD_Respect why staff feel so free, quick and willing to discriminate and humiliate breastfeeding women in your facility? I would like an apology and an explanation."

Sinnott said that while the UCD Sport & Fitness pool actively promotes how "baby-friendly their facilities are" on its website, "that doesn't mean it's a welcoming place to breastfeeding mothers."

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The UCD Sport & Fitness pool where a woman was shamed for breastfeeding
The UCD Sport & Fitness website has this image of a smiling mother and baby. (uce.ie)

Sinnott ended her post by encouraging others to "stand up to people who shame women."

"If someone tells you to stop breastfeeding, refuse. You have a legal right to breastfeed your child. Tell them: Anywhere you can take a baby, you can breastfeed a baby. On a bus. At a pool," she wrote.

"If you've ever been told not to breastfeed your child somewhere, you're familiar with this hodge-podge of insincere reasoning. This is whitewashing and it is nonsense."

Elsewhere in the Twitter thread, ?Sinnott said Ireland had some of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world.

"Fewer than 6 per cent of babies are exclusively breastfed to six months," she wrote, pointing to a story on UNICEF.

"So it goes without saying, shaming women for breastfeeding contributes to this low rate of breastfeeding."

UCD Sport & Fitness has since apologised to Sinnott via Twitter.

"Hi Marguerite, please accept our sincerest apologies. Rather than approach you, the member of staff should have explained to the individuals who complained that breastfeeding is rightfully permitted in all public places," it wrote.

"We have taken the necessary steps to ensure all of our staff are fully aware of this going forward."

Sinnott later took to Twitter again to thank everyone for their support.

"I just want to say how appreciative I am for your support, and to everyone who's shared their own experience," she wrote.

"This isn't about one incident, one person, or one place. The replies show that any institution that wants to be more welcoming to breastfeeding women just needs to ask women for advice on how they can do better.

"Support for breastfeeding is a cultural cause we can all be a part of. The replies are full of women sharing their experiences.

"I'm fine, my baby is fine. But a similar experience could be far more challenging for someone who is having a tough time, or having difficulty with breastfeeding.

"Hats off to the mothers who carry on despite the scornful looks, or even being explicitly asked to leave. You're helping normalise breastfeeding. And that's the main thing I really want here จC a positive, welcoming and happy culture around breastfeeding."

According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, "It is against the law to discriminate against women who are breastfeeding. This includes women who need to express milk by hand or using a pump."

The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 also ensures women in Australia can breastfeed anywhere in public.

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