A young mum has told how she was approached by a member of staff at Sainsbury's for breastfeeding her four-week-old daughter.
Beth Coles, 25, said she was completely covered up while feeding Rosie in the car park of the Kidderminister branch.
She revealed how her child had a "meltdown" during their shopping trip so she took her to the car to feed her.
READ MORE: Mum hits back at strangers who stare at her while breastfeeding baby in public
It was then she saw the female staff member, who didn't have a name badge, walk right out of the store and towards her car.
The mum attempted to smile but she said she only received glares in the near empty car park, reports the Mirror.
Beth said: "She knocked on the window, I opened the door, moved the child. She said, 'can you stop that, please? It's inappropriate'.
"My reaction was to just burst out crying. I didn't know what to do.
"She just gave me a funny look and walked off, and I was like, 'oh, okay your goal was to make me cry'."
The mum, who has post-natal depression and borderline personality disorder (BPD), claimed the incident happened on June 24.
She said the situation made her struggle even more.
Influencer exposes reality behind 'stylish' foot snaps on Instagram with bizarre trick
Beth recalled: "It sort of solidified my view of maybe I shouldn't be leaving the house because when I do things like that happen."
She decided to share her store on a breastfeeding Facebook page, including a picture to show how covered up she had been.
Sainsbury's asked her to DM them with more info, but Beth said they stopped responding after people laid into them online.
Then she explained them herself as she was offered a £40 gift card and promised the members of staff would be spoken to.
She said: "I don't want the money. I just want an actual apology, which they don't seem to want to give."
People are just realising the 'creepy' reason women give birth on their back
A Sainsbury's spokesperson said: "We have apologised to Ms Coles for this unacceptable experience and we have reassured her that breastfeeding is very welcome in our stores.
"We are investigating with the store and further training will be provided to our colleagues where necessary."
However Beth claimed she's yet to receive an apology.
Beth said: "Unless they sent it by carrier pigeon, and it got lost, then no there has been no apology at all."
Although unimpressed with the situation, she has been touched by the support, with many people empathising with her situation.
Beth said: "It's been lovely to see the response. It's just the fact that the lovely response is being ignored by Sainsbury's themselves.
"Even somebody from Tesco has messaged me saying 'we're sorry on Sainsbury's behalf, even though we're Tesco, you're more than welcome to come into our stores, we will happily accommodate you'.
"So another large store has responded to me, but the store in question hasn't."
Considering what she'd say to those who respond negatively to breastfeeding mothers, she added: "If you have a personal preference or opinion about it if you are in uniform especially representing a supermarket.
"Not only is it damaging for your workplace, but it is majorly damaging to the person that you've said it to. You really got to be careful about what you say in general nowadays, but to come up and knock on the door of somebody who's very covered up.
"And I really did try. I had a muslin and blanket over me and still had all my clothes on. How damaging that is. And for somebody who's still fairly young and has BPD and postnatal depression.
"They're lucky that it didn't tip me over the edge in a sense, and cause a much bigger issue. All I want is an apology. That's all I want. I don't want money. I don't want anything silly. I just want an apology."
READ NEXT:
- Mum who mooned sports day crowd reveals what mortified daughter said straight after
- Mum left red-faced as 4-year-old daughter makes 'booby sculpture' at nursery
- Suspicious mum cuts date night short after checking babysitter on camera
Source: Read Full Article