Southwest Airlines Supervisors Tells Breastfeeding Mom To Cover...

Southwest Airlines Supervisors Tells Breastfeeding mom to cover...

You would think after all these headlines with breastfeeding discrimination, businesses would have been made aware that there are laws that protect breastfeeding moms. You would think after countless nurse-ins and protests people would know that it's never okay to request that a breastfeeding mother cover herself or request that she move to private area. No matter what your personal opinion is with breastfeeding in public the law is the law and no one is exempt from that. 

Melanie Davis, wrote me, sharing her experience at Southwest Airlines, in Nevada. 

She states,

"Well, it finally happened, after 14 months— Someone told me to cover up while feeding my baby. We arrived at the Southwest Airlines ticket counter and while waiting to check in, my son got hungry, so I fed him. In about 5 minutes, we reached the front of the line, where two Southwest Airlines supervisors came over and informed me that they had "multiple complaints" called up to the office, that I was making people uncomfortable. I told her that it was illegal to make a nursing mother cover up, per the Nevada revised statutes, which states, "a mother may nurse in any place she had the right to be, regardless whether or not the nipple is revealed in the course of feeding." She said how she was a mother and nursed her kids and she understands, but they had to address me because people were "uncomfortable." There were maybe 10 people in line, and if ”multiple" people managed to somehow find a phone number for the Southwest Airlines office in McCarran within 5 minutes, I would be shocked. I hope this isn't a policy of Southwest Airlines, and I will be calling McCarran airport to lodge a complaint, as well. I've never been addressed while feeding my child and I've been in many public places over the course of 14 months. If you think Southwest needs to address this issue, please feel free to share."

The law on breastfeeding states that a mother is allowed to breastfeed wherever she is otherwise authorized to be. There are no clauses that she must cover or that everyone nearby should be comfortable with it. People and businesses need to be held accountable for the blatant disrespect of mothers and the law. 

Kristy Kemp

My name is Kristy Kemp. I created Breastfeeding Mama Talk back in September 2012. My motivation behind creating Breastfeeding Mama Talk was to be that support system for breastfeeding mothers around the world.