I got a call from Berna Velasco, the Director for the SM Breastfeeding Program. Here are the points of our conversation:
- SM does not and will never have a policy of disallowing breastfeeding in public in SM Malls.
- The breastfeeding stations are a courtesy extended to mothers who wish to breastfeed their children, but they are also a symbol that SM is a supporter of breastfeeding anywhere. We both agreed that they are much like the special parking slots reserved for PWDs. Would you require a PWD to park ONLY in the designated parking area and nowhere else?
- There is no policy or directive given to staff and security of SM to approach mothers who are nursing in public places and ask them to proceed to the breastfeeding room as a requirement.
We are meeting on Monday to talk more about the matter, as well as discuss SM’s reorientation and awareness programs for the following year. Updates to follow!
Great news right? Go breastfeeding!
Oh, a few more personal points:
- It is not my place as a breastfeeding counselor to consciously manipulate and impose my own comfort level of discretion on a mother. If it is her concern and she asks for tips on how to discreetly nurse, I will do so. Feelings and discomfort of others are something to be handled differently, and goes below our goals to 1) feed the child, 2) support the mother. I am hoping we’re all mostly mature enough to understand that. There has been so much that occurred between the time when public nursing was accepted to these times of altered norms and values that we have a lot of ground to cover before people accept that mammary glands are what they are. I hope someday seeing nursing women in public becomes the norm again. Do you imagine a world where people would be offended by the sight of a formula-feeding mother? I can’t but who knows? It might happen.
- To all the trolls commenting about ogling mothers nursing, please do approach and ogle me when I am nursing because I would love to slap you with a lawsuit for acts of lewd conduct and sexual harassment. Those hiding behind fake accounts, you only become significant when you use your real name and face. Before that you are nothing but a loser and a coward, not just online, but I highly suspect, in real life as well.