Target boycott

I recently read an article about a family being thrown out of a Target store in Michigan. http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/breast-feeding-incident-at-local-target The woman, a mother of three was breastfeeding her 4 week old daughter in the electronics department when she was approached by a security officer for the store. He informed her and her husband that it was against the law and they would have to leave.

After telling the security officer it was not illegal police were called. With her husband being a police officer in Detroit he asked the officers on scene if it was illegal in Harper Woods? The response was no, yet they continued to discuss the issue with security, store management, and the police until the embarrassment was too much and they gathered their things and left with a feeling that they were no longer welcome to shop in that store again. FOX 2 contacted Targets corporate headquarters. They were told they allow mothers to breast-feed in their stores. But, "This specific situation escalated to a point where we were concerned for the safety of our guests, so law enforcement was called. We regret the incident in our store and will continue to provide a shopping environment that respects the needs of all guests, including nursing mothers." The store manager was also contacted and her response was that breastfeeding is supported in her store!

This is not an isolated Target incident as there was another incident in a Minnesota store in 2006. It was reported that a Minneapolis Target employee told a woman that she couldn't breastfeed in a fitting room and told her to use the bathroom instead. When the woman later called Target's national hot-line she was told “corporate policy was that nursing mothers were welcome in Target stores.” As such, Target has responded with a public apology and the following statement: “Target has a long-standing practice that supports breastfeeding in our stores. We apologize for any inconvenience the guest experienced and will take this opportunity to reaffirm this commitment with our team members,” company representative Kristi Arndt said. “For guests in our stores, we support the use of fitting rooms for women who wish to breastfeed their babies, even if others are waiting to use the fitting rooms. In addition, guests who choose to breastfeed discreetly in more public areas of the store are welcome to do so without being made to feel uncomfortable.”

Also on a personal note, I too had a negative breastfeeding experience in the Lafayette Target in 2001. I was breastfeeding my first child in the food court when an employee, an older woman, approached me and stated that I needed to go to the restroom to do that. I immediately responded that she would not eat her food in the restroom, nor do other women feed their bottle fed children there, so I shouldn't have to feed him there either. I continued to feed him where I was and had I known better then, I would have made a formal complaint.

While this type of incident infuriates me in many ways, the truth is that we need to work harder to advocate and educate the general public that breastfeeding is the norm!

Also on a positive note here is another Target incident -

A woman comes to the service desk to complain that there is a mom breastfeeding in the Food Service area and to request that someone tell the mother to stop doing that. The employee behind the desk tells her he can't ask the mother to stop because she's allowed to nurse in the store. The woman demands to see the manager, who when summoned, tells the woman the same thing - they're not going to ask the mother to stop.