A mom who breastfed her child in a Montreal Walmart got berated by an employee.
Candyce Sousa, mom to 11-month-old son Phoenix, was surprised at the treatment she received when she breastfed her son inside Walmart.
Sousa was waiting in line to check out in the store when her son became restless, so she discreetly fed her child whom she carried in a frontal carrier. Apparently, one of the employees in Walmart started making comments about breastfeeding in public.
"An employee in another section of the store who was ticketing men's merchandise started making a commotion," Sousa says, according to Yahoo. "She was going on about how 'babies can wait, they don't have to do that in public,' and that she was a mother and would never think of [breastfeeding] in public."
"She also said that babies older than one or two weeks of age should be able to wait," she adds.
Sousa was upset about the situation. She tried to focus only on her son, but still the situation wasn't comfortable. "He was in a front wrap, so we casually minded our own business and I fed him in line," Sousa says.
She said she even interacted with a customer "who wasn't weird at all" about the fact that she was feeding her son.
Sousa said the employee never spoke to her directly. "She was very loud and being very passive-aggressive. She never made eye contact with me but it was clear she was talking about me. I was the only feeding mother in the store," Sousa says.
Nursing mom Sousa was very upset.
"I could not believe after 11 months of publicly breastfeeding, that this woman was being so aggressive and indirect," she says.
After checking out, she went back inside the store to complain to the manager, who was shocked, according to a report from CBC News.
"He didn't really know what to say other than, 'People breastfeed here on a regular basis, on a daily basis,' so he doesn't see what her problem would have been," Sousa said.
Walmart told CBC News that they support breastfeeding anywhere in their stores, either in public or in private areas. Furthermore, Walmart also said that "under no circumstance should an associate prevent or discourage a customer from breastfeeding in a public area of the store."
The manager told Sousa that that particular situation would be dealt with, but since that time, she has never received any contact from Walmart.
"Breastfeeding shouldn't be shameful," Sousa says. "It's beneficial to the child and it's a human right to do so."
This isn't the first breastfeeding issue Walmart had. In February, several mothers staged a nurse-in at an Oklahoma Walmart.
