WATCH ABOVE: The Fun Dome is publicly apologizing after an Edmonton mother said she was shamed for breastfeeding at the local establishment last week. Su-Ling Goh has the details.
EDMONTON — A local children’s play centre has publicly apologized after an Edmonton mother said she was shamed for breastfeeding at the establishment last week.
The Fun Dome held a pro-breastfeeding information session and “feed-in” Wednesday, nearly a week after Jamie Lynn Davis vowed never to return to the facility.
Davis said she was breastfeeding her seven-month-old son at the Fun Dome last Thursday when a staff member told her she “couldn’t do that there.” Davis said she was told by the staff member to use a separate room. The Edmonton mother said she was also approached by another mother who said she should “go back to you own country.”
READ MORE: Edmonton mom says she was shamed for breastfeeding at children’s play centre
Following the incident the Fun Dome responded on its Facebook page, saying it supports breastfeeding 100 per cent.
In the hope of publicly addressing and moving past the incident, the owner of the Fun Dome reached out to the Breastfeeding Action Committee of Edmonton to put on Wednesday’s feed-in, which was hosted by Momstown Edmonton, an organization that offers early education programming and parental support.
“We’re taking this opportunity to move on, not only with a formal apology for this mom who was unable to breastfeed, but also educate our staff and be proactive in creating awareness about women are able to breastfeed anywhere and everywhere and educate the general public about that, as well,” said Maureen Connellan, owner of the Fun Dome.
BACE says the Fun Dome has started to adopt its breastfeeding friendly checklist and will take the “breastfeeding pledge” as soon as Fun Dome staff can finalize all of the required actions.
“Educating businesses is an important part of supporting breastfeeding in public. The public also needs to be educated on the right of women and children to breastfeed any time, anywhere,” said Nicole Hill, BACE’s Breastfeeding Friendly project manager.
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