My local chapter of Moms Rising - Moms Rising of the Pioneer Valley - has been working on the issue of nursing in public.
We thought we'd draft a letter from our group which we could send to the head of a business or organization where an incident of harrassment occurred. The idea is that 1) mothers often feel intimidated taking on a business on their own, and 2) they often get nowhere when they try. So, if a mother has had no success trying to resolve the issue on her own, and wants a little back up from other mothers, this is a letter we could send. Again, this is only if the mother wants this kind of support.
It was my job to come up with the letter. Here's my first draft. I'd love some feedback from all of you. Too harsh? Too preachy? Think that this is a bad idea overall? If any of you would like to modify this for use in your own area, be my guest!
Dear _____________ :
On behalf of Moms Rising of the Pioneer Valley we are writing to express concern over an incident which occurred at your establishment in which a mother (description of incident).
Moms Rising of the Pioneer Valley is a local affiliate of a national organization which promotes family friendly policies. Our group is the advocacy arm of Motherwoman, Inc.
Description of incident (who, what, where, when, what the mother did to remedy so far, how the business/organization has responded, what the mother would like).
Breastfeeding is a normal and healthy way of feeding a child, and breastfeeding mothers who nurse in public are simply responding to the needs of their children. Restricting the ability of a mother to nurse her baby marginalizes this beneficial behavior, and often humiliates a mother and upsets her child. We would remind you that breastfeeding in public is not illegal in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
We imagine that this incident was an oversight, and that appropriate steps will be taken to respond to the mother and to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. However, if your establishment has a policy in any way restricting the ability of breastfeeding mothers to feed their babies we would appreciate the opportunity to inform our (insert number) members.
Please reply to us at the contact information below. We look forward to your response in this matter.
Sincerely,
President, Moms Rising of the Pioneer Valley
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