Moms were asked to stop breastfeeding in kiddie pool. It sparked a ‘ruckus,’ cops say

Two moms were breastfeeding their babies at an aquatic center when another mom took notice and complained.

The moms, Stephanie Buchanan and her sister-in-law-Mary Davis, were nursing their babies while at the Mora Aquatic Center in Mora, Minnesota, Buchanan posted on Facebook.

“I wasnt flashing them around, nobody saw any nipple, there were other moms there nursing their babies, and LOTS of other women showing more skin than me,” the mother wrote on July 18.

Buchanan told WCCO that she was wearing a one-piece swimsuit and slipped the strap down to feed 3-month-old Roman in the wading area of the kiddie pool while she and Davis had six kids with them. Davis was also nursing her baby.

“The reason I didn’t get out of the pool to breastfeed is my kids,” Davis told the station. “I got to watch my kids.”

But one woman had a problem with that.

“A patron came up, a lady at the pool, and told me that I needed to cover up because her sons were swimming,” Buchanan told WCCO.

The woman then went and told a staff member, KMSP reported.

A pool manager had a teen employee go up to the breastfeeding moms and ask them to either cover up or move to the pool deck or changing area, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported, but they did not do so.

“They said they knew the law and they weren’t moving,” Kanabec County Sheriff Brian Smith told the newspaper.

Minnesota law says a mother may breastfeed in any location, public and private, as long as the mother and child are allowed to be there, regardless of if the woman’s nipple is uncovered while nursing.

But when the moms did not move or cover up, there was “raised voices and shouting across the pool. … Now there’s a ruckus,” Smith told the Star Tribune, so the manager called 911.

Smith told the newspaper that breastfeeding at the pool isn’t new — even his own kids were breastfed at the pool — and he thinks that it’s because the moms were in the kiddie pool that led to such a dispute.

“It’s usually done discreetly — not out in the middle of the kiddie pool with little kids playing in the water,” he said. “I think that’s what was going on here.”

With disruption at the pool, a sergeant with the sheriff’s office came by to calm people down — not to kick the women out, KMSP reported.

When the officer arrived, though, the woman were already packing up.

“I was getting the kids out of the pool and as I’m getting us all dried off a police officer walks up to me, and I was like ‘are you kidding me?’” Buchanan told WCMP.

The moms were angry and embarrassed, Smith told the Star Tribune, but that was the end of it until Buchanan took to Facebook to express her frustration.

“Mora aquatic center lost my business forever, today,” she wrote. “Today they called the police on me and my sister in law for nursing our babies in public ... I don’t expect any grown adult to go eat in the locker room and I’m not going to remove the other children I have with me to go sit in the locker room also while I feed my baby, it’s absolutely disgusting and maddening that this is how this establishment treats moms!!!”

Just about four hours later, she decided to host a nurse-in protest outside of the pool.

“Us Mama Bears gotta stick together and in unity there is strength!” she wrote on the Poolside Nurse-In Facebook event. “We can nurse anywhere, and in any way we choose under the Minnesota State Law. The biological purpose for woman’s breast is to feed and nourish our babies and I am so sick of being shamed for what I feel is best for my child!”

The protest, which was held on Saturday, had about 50 to 60 people show up, Buchanan wrote. Davis said another protest is planned for Aug. 11.

Buchanan also added that it was not a “personal attack” on the pool, its staff or police.

“This incident was created by a woman’s issue about another woman breast feeding her child,” she said. “We just want to normalize breastfeeding and bring some awareness to this. Our breasts were created for this sole purpose so why do we get bashed when using them appropriately.”

The City of Mora said in a release to WCMP that it apologizes to Buchanan and Davis “if they were offended by how they were treated.”

“The City of Mora and Mora Aquatic Center strive to create an environment comfortable for all,” the statement said. “While we always have supported nursing mothers, the situation inside of the kiddy pool made many patrons uncomfortable ... though we cannot anticipate all possible scenarios, City policies and procedures will be reviewed and revised as deemed necessary.”

This story was originally published July 22, 2018 at 12:03 PM with the headline "Moms were asked to stop breastfeeding in kiddie pool. It sparked a ‘ruckus,’ cops say."