Image Credit: Shutterstock
November 27, 2015 - 4:30 PM
KAMLOOPS - After a positive experience with a Breast Feeding Cafe in Penticton, Sage Thomas felt motivated to start a similar group in Kamloops when she moved here over a year ago.
"It’s just a drop in group where we can get together and hangout and talk. Babies and siblings are welcome and even pregnant moms too if they want to come and ask about breast feeding or get to know other moms,” Thomas says.
Thomas, who is trained as a birth doula, says she’s aware of the peer-to-peer support moms look for in a community and is happy to coordinate get togethers for the group. She says the group brings a source of comfort to moms who may feel uncomfortable about breast feeding in public.
"A lot of new moms feel a lot of pressure that they do need to cover up,” she says. “There’s a lot of moms that frown upon it. I had a talk with somebody I know that thought it was disrespectful to yourself or to other people to not cover up. You’re just trying to feed your baby so it shouldn’t matter."
Thomas says the group doesn’t provide any health information, but members discuss which locations in the city are ‘breastfeeding friendly’. There have been instances where unfriendly locations have been discussed. Thomas says one woman felt uncomfortable about her own breastfeeding after witnessing a manager tell a mother to cover herself up in a Kamloops restaurant.
The group currently meets at a members home, but during warm weather months they meet at local parks. There are similar cafes in Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon.
For more information on the Kamloops Breastfeeding Cafe, visit the group on Facebook.
The following is a Google Map created by another group Breastfeeding Matters in Kamloops. The purple balloons outline family friendly locations in the city while the red balloons are places that are both family friendly and breastfeeding friendly.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca, or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015