Hi all!
Had to tell you of an experience I just went through.  You won't believe it.
I attended a conference about issues, assessments and techniques of
breastfeeding this past Saturday.  It turned out to be full of wonderful info
(though some of it was WAY above my head!) and I learned a lot.  I also
learned that BF discrimination is still rampant even within the BF education
community!
This conference was sponsored by a local hospital, (can't mention the name,
DARN!) and WIC paid for my registration fees (aren't they great!!  I'm one of
their Peer Councelors).
I called two days ahead to see if I could bring my 10 mo. old, since he is
still almost exclusively BF and looks at you like your from another planet if
you try to give him a bottle.  They said NO.  OK.  That's understandable,
babies are distracting.  I have a hard time paying attention to things when
there are cute babies around, too.  I said, how about if I bring a sitter
with me and she keeps BB out of the conference room and I feed him on the
breaks?  After much reassurance, on my part, that BB would NEVER enter the
conference room I was told OK.
I showed up at the conference with BB and sitter in tow and was told by the
2nd in command that there was no way I could attend the conference since I
had brought my baby!  I explained that I had already been told that I could
since I was bringing a sitter.  This woman refused to listen to what I was
saying!  For some reason, she thought that I was going to have the sitter and
BB in the conference room with me, even though I told her several times that
that was not the case.  She then went to speak to her supervisor, whom I had
spoken withh two days before, came back and told me that as long as I kept
the BB and sitter out of the conference room and the hallway outside the room
I would be "PERMITTED" to join the conference.  Gee, isn't that what I had
planned?
I came out on the first break and fed the BB.  Worked great!  At lunchtime, I
told the supervisor that I was going to send my sitter to the hosp. cafeteria
to get her lunch and that I would meet them in the lunchroom with BB in tow
to feed him, eat my lunch and network with my newfound peers. (that was a
mistake, I should have just gone in)  I was told that I was not allowed to
bring the BB into the lunchroom with me to feed him!  I was shocked!  So were
several other people, including my WIC supervisor who was there also.  I was
told that I would have to go buy my own lunch in the cafeteria (my lunch had
already been paid for as part of the reg. fee) if I wanted to feed my BB.
 Needless to say I was fuming.  Rather than explode and really cause a nasty
scene, I went to the cafeteria with my son and sitter and had lunch.
After the conference I expressed my anger at how I was discriminated against
in a calm manner, until the 2nd in command started getting in my face about
how I wasn't being fair to them!  She still wasn't paying attention to what I
was saying, she was be rude and patronizing and kept waving her hands in my
face saying she didn't want to get confrontational about the situation. I
told them that I  agreed with everything they had to say about not having
babies IN the conference, but that I didn't see what the justification was to
BAR me from the lunchroom (informal) simply because I had a BF BB.  If the BB
had been younger, they said, then it would have been different!  WHAT?!
Oh, well, so much for encouraging BF, extended BF, moms and jobs and BF.
 Needless to say I will be writing the hosp. a very angry letter and
demanding an apology!
It's bad enough to get harrassed out in public about nurturing our children
by BF, but to get it at a BF conference sponsored by a hosp. is ludicrous!
Any comments?
Janet
(Sick and tired of double standards and discrimination!)