Eagles Nest Nurse-in and a Sense of Normality

For anyone following our Facebook fan page, you know that this week has been a particularly devastating one with the passing of our dear friends little boy Rowan. In the fog of all the pain there was an available distraction of a nurse-in at a local indoor playground. I personally felt the need to have a normal morning again so I could recharge my mental batteries for the week ahead.

As I sat there meeting new wonderful breastfeeding mothers, overhearing television interviews, passing out flyers/cookies/juice - I remember thinking it was odd that I consider this kind of activity to be an every day normal occurrence for me. But then again it was just a bunch of women breastfeeding, chatting, and eating. That is pretty normal in my world, how about you?

Mama Christa nursing, walking, and talking at the Eagles Nest

The nurse-in was peaceful and wonderful. Eagles Nest has now made the effort to educate their staff and ensure that breastfeeding women are welcome there. This all came about because of an incident that happened last weekend where a mother was asked by staff to go breastfeed in a private location. Managers told Susan Berlien that they have an unwritten rule about asking nursing mothers to go into a private location in order to make everyone more comfortable. It took some hard work by the "Breastfeeding does not have to be hidden" group, but now Eagles Nest has changed their tune. They've put up laminated signage and staff has been trained on appropriate laws. Victory!

This indoor playground happens to be about two miles away from my home and during the winter months we are there on a weekly basis. I will be checking to make sure those signs stay up and I always have my "Thank you for nursing in public" cards available. We have always breastfed there without issue, but it sounds like perhaps we were just very lucky to have not been approached. Knowing that staff has been properly educated will make it a comfortable place to be yet again and we are very thankful that they have seen the error in their original thinking.

For local folks Fox9 and Kare11 came out to interview Susan and other attendees of the nurse-in. The clips will be aired tonight at 5pm for both stations and then an additional viewing at 11pm for Fox9. The links to view this online will most likely be available tomorrow and I will edit this blog post to add the information for those of you that were unable to view it live.