Kamloops mom Kristy Lynn Ezekiel breastfeeding her newborn baby on a beach vacation in Tofino, June, 2022.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Kristy Lynn Ezekiel

A mother in Kamloops was told to go to a back room to breastfeed while out at a local establishment recently.

Kristy Lynn Ezekiel said she was shocked by what happened and the reasoning behind it.

Ezekiel was at the establishment with her three children and when she went to breastfeed her baby, a staff member told her to stop because of the risk of spreading bodily fluids and therefore COVID and hand, foot and mouth disease. Ezekiel was offered a back room.

“Initially I was so surprised I didn’t react immediately, I just followed the staff member to a back room,” she said. “I was shocked that people could think that breastfeeding is spreading bodily fluids and that even if it did that it would be harmful. Breast milk has antibodies, it is not a fluid that carries virus and disease.”

Ezekiel wrote an email to the establishment about the upsetting incident and they replied first thing on the following Monday morning.

“They apologized and confirmed their establishment supports breastfeeding and the worker was going to be addressed about the problem so no mom will go through this again,” she said.

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Ezekiel did not name the establishment, saying it is a great local business and the staff member’s words and actions were not representative of the company as a whole.

While breastfeeding brings countless benefits to both mother and child and is encouraged by the World Health Organization to start within the first hour of a baby’s life, it still seems to prompt unwanted responses from some of the general public.

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She said more work needs to be done to help mothers feel safe and confident when breastfeeding.

“I’ve received countless judgemental looks from people, it makes a lot of people really uncomfortable,” she said. “People avoid eye contact with me or ask me to cover up, saying rude things. It happens to a lot of women.”

Ezekiel said she can’t understand it.

“I don’t know why it makes people so uncomfortable, it is a healthy and natural thing,” she said. “Mostly you can’t even see the boob, all you see is a bit of stomach showing or a baby’s head. Breastfeeding does so many things like reducing the chance of developing breast cancer and reducing postpartum depression.

“Society should be encouraging it.”

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