A 19 year old mother got a taste of Wal-Mart bureaucracy in Fort Collins, Colorado on January 23rd when store officials told her to stop breast-feeding her infant. Jennifer Trimble was in the middle of feeding her 8 month old daughter as she was waiting to check-out of the store. Wal-Mart said its actions were taken in response to some customer complaints about the breast-feeding. After telling Trimble to stop feeding her child, the company later had to eat an apology. “We’re just sorry for the inconvenience to her,” said a company spokesperson from Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters. The company now says it will tell all of its managers that official store policy is to allow breast-feeding in its stores. According to the Internet Broadcasting Systems, Trimble plans to hold a “nurse-in” outside the Wal-Mart on Jan. 31, and has invited other breast-feeding Moms to join her.
If you think Moms should be able to breast feed their children in front of Wal-Mart shoppers, send the company an email to [email protected]. Better yet, if you are a breast feeding Mom, find another store to shop at, and tell your other breast-feeding friends not to “risk” feeding their children at Wal-Mart, in case the company’s new policy has not filtered down to the local manager. Not shopping at Wal-Mart is as natural as mother’s milk.
