A mum is threatening to remove her children from a primary school after claiming she was shamed by the head teacher – for BREASTFEEDING.
Lisa Bailey was at Langney Primary School to wave her 11-year-old daughter Abbie off on a week-long school trip when her baby son Kayden-Jay became irritable and hungry.
The mum-of-four went to the back of the assembly hall to “discreetly” feed the one year-old just before school started on Monday morning.
But moments later school head Julie Prentice came over and told her to move on in case any of the students of the school in Eastbourne, East Sussex became ‘uncomfortable’.
Lisa, 32, said: “The head teacher kept looking over at me. She came and sat next to me and she said ‘Can I move you to my office’.
“She was quite abrupt about it. She said ‘young boys are in here, they are going to start asking questions, we do not want anyone feeling uncomfortable’.
“She said, ‘Well you’re going to have to take him off.’
“It was horrible – she made me feel like I had to stop and I was so embarrassed.”
Stay-at-home mum Lisa, of Eastbourne, stopped feeding but added: “It made me feel so dirty and my son was still hungry.
“The kids are in Year 6, they know what breastfeeding is for.
“She seemed quite embarrassed as well. But I was doing the most natural thing in the world.”
Head Julie admitted offering Lisa the opportunity to go to her office to feed but claims it was to make her feel more comfortable.
She said: “We always have and always will allow breastfeeding on the school site.
“I believe that I acted appropriately in this instance and was simply giving the option of a private room for the parent to breastfeed her child, should she find this more comfortable.”
But Lisa – who has sent three children to the school – says the head has breached the Equality Act 2010 and cannot discriminate against breastfeeding mums.
Rosemary Dodds, a senior policy adviser at the UK’s largest parenting charity, National Childbirth Trust, gave her backing to Lisa.
She said: “Whether formula feeding or breastfeeding, it is important that mums are able to feed their baby whenever and wherever they need it.
“The Equality Act, which became law in October 2010, states that mums cannot be discriminated against, asked to leave a venue or treated unfavourably because they are breastfeeding when out and about in Britain.
“This is something we campaigned for over a number of years and it is important that mothers and venues know about this legislation.”
Lisa has complained to the school governors and says she wants to take her seven-year-old son Billy out of the school and will not be sending Kayden-Jay there.
She said: “I definitely won’t send Kayden-Jay there.
“I don’t want my children going up thinking breastfeeding is bad.
“There should not be any discrimination.
“If a boy saw me being told off that is going to change their attitude.
“I am speaking out for breast feeding mums who have a right to feed their babies any time, anywhere, any place, without any discrimination, whether it’s breast or bottle, a baby has a right to be fed anywhere.”
