http://search.tribnet.com/archive/archive30/0519b12.html


Breast-feeding mom files claim

FIFE POOL: Woman says banishment by lifeguards caused
humiliation, anxiety

May 19, 01

by Rob Tucker; The News Tribune

A Tacoma mother has filed a $250,000 claim against the City of
Fife, Washington because city pool lifeguards banned her from
the water after she breast-fed her child.

Laurene Waldherr said she felt harassed and humiliated over
the incident. She said she had breast-fed her 4-month-old son
while sitting on the steps of the pool on the evening of
Sept. 18, 2000. She had her feet dangling in the water and put
the baby to her breast underneath her tank top. She said she
wanted to stay close to the toddlers' pool so she could watch
her 3-year-old son, who was swimming there.

She said lifeguards discriminated against her on the basis of
sex when they told her to move away from the pool to the
bleachers while breast-feeding her child and then said she
couldn't return to the pool because she would leak breast milk
into the water.

Bob Christie, an attorney representing the city, said the
lifeguards didn't harass Waldherr or discriminate against her.
H esaid they held an honest belief that any leaking bodily
fluids in the pool - including breast milk, blood or other
fluids - constituted a health hazard and should be prevented
to protect other swimmers.

"Breast milk's not bad," he said. "Should it be in the pool?
No."

Waldherr said none of her breast milk went into the pool.

Christie said the lifeguards, if they erred, did so on the
side of caution to protect the public. He said he and the
city are evaluating the March 30 claim. If the City Council
denies the claim, it could be filed in Superior Court as a
lawsuit.

The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department doesn't believe
minor amounts of breast milk in public pool water is an
imminent health threat, said David DeLong, pool program
supervisor for the health department.

Marcia Patrick, a registered nurse and manager of infection
control for MultiCare Health Systems in Tacoma, said the
likelihood of breast milk in pool water transmitting diseases
to another swimmer is "infinitesimally small."

"I would not consider that a risk," she said. "Loaded diapers
in the pool are far riskier."

Patrick said the breast milk would be diluted, dissipated and
disinfected by chlorinated pool water that is agitated by
swimmers and pumps. She said she would be more concerned
about an infant drinking pool water.

The Fife pool allows diapered children in its pool as long
as they wear plastic pants.

Roger Cartwright, an attorney representing Waldherr, said the
incident caused her "anxiety about breast-feeding in public"
and inhibited her breast-feeding. She had to obtain counseling
to help her deal with the anxiety and stress, he said.

Waldherr said she decided to file the claim, not just for
herself, but because the city position on breast-feeding at
the pool and breast milk in the pool "was a bad idea," and
because she was harassed.

She said she wasn't a militant feminist on the subject.
"I'm just a mom," she said.

Within several days after the Sept. 18 incident, two
lifeguards and Michael Lafreniere, the city's parks and
recreation director, wrote letters of apology to Waldherr
and her husband.

Lafreniere refunded the family's pool fees of $18.50.
The family hasn't returned since the incident, Waldherr
said.

City pool rules say breast-feeding isn't prohibited in the
pool building, but no breast-feeding is allowed in the water.

In this case, Lafreniere wrote, pool employees didn't want
the infant to ingest splashed pool water because he was being
fed too close the pool.

Bacteria and chemicals in the pool water might make the child
sick, he said.

But Christie, the city's attorney, said the major concern is
breast milk in the pool water.

Protecting mothers who breast-feed their infants has been
the subject of recent state legislation. Legislators passed
a law that excludes mothers who are breast-feeding in public
or in the workplace from being charged with indecent exposure.

State Sen. Jeri Costa (D-Marysville) said the new law, which
the governor signed April 19, is good but needs to be
strengthened to make governments and businesses develop
"baby-friendly policies," including a safe, clean place where
mothers can nurse their infant children.

Currently, employers are only encouraged to do so, she said.

"It's the safest way to feed children," Costa said. Unless
the law is strengthened, she said, incidents like the one at
the Fife pool will continue to happen.

- - -

* Rob Tucker can be reached at 253-597-8374 or at
[log in to unmask]

© The News Tribune

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html