Stay-at-home mom Kelly Stanley was breastfeeding her daughter Maya in a restaurant when her parents told her to cover herself up. She had nursed her 9-month-old baby at home, but, as she told The Daily Mail, “in the middle of the meal [my baby] started to get irritable and was reaching for me and grabbing at my shirt.”
Stanley then pulled down her shirt and started to nurse her. Immediately, Stanley’s dad grabbed a cloth napkin and threw it at her.
“I asked him what he was doing,” Stanley wrote in her Instagram post. “He said he was trying to cover me.”
“The gesture was humiliating… Breastfeeding is NOT indecent exposure. It’s not inviting men to gawk at my breasts.”
Her father told her that the restaurant was “too nice” for her to nurse her baby uncovered, and that she should go to the car and nurse her baby there instead. Sadly, Stanley’s mother also told her that what she was doing was inappropriate.
“My mom stated that I was being inconsiderate of people who ‘didn’t want to see that,’ but I feel like I was being considerate of the other customers by not forcing them to listen to my crying infant during their meal,” Stanley explained to The Daily Mail.
On the next page: Stanley talks about how much it hurts to be shamed by her own parents.
The 23-year-old mom went on to add that being shamed by people close to her hurt her so much more than if a stranger would have done it.
“I was shocked to have someone so close to me not respect my right to breastfeed my child freely. It hurt more than if a stranger had done it,” she added. “I just didn’t understand why he cared more about the customers than the comfort of his own daughter and granddaughter.”
“Breastfeeding is a normal and natural thing”
Photo: kellymarie_yoga on Instagram
Babies, as Stanley noted in her Instagram post, don’t take into account where they are when they demand for feedings. “Babies are notorious for wanting to eat at the most inconvenient and awkward times,” she wrote. “And most of them hate to be covered!
“Breastfeeding is a normal and natural thing, and if someone has a problem with me feeding my child whenever and wherever, that is THEIR problem. It should NEVER be the breastfeeding mom’s problem.”
Stanley told The Daily Mail that her dad still hasn’t apologized for his actions, but that he does understand where she’s coming from better now.
READ: Dads speak up about supporting moms breastfeeding in public
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