Over 250 breastfeeding mothers descended upon The Park Street Café in Bristol after another breastfeeding mother claims that she was verbally abused by a waitress for attempting to breastfeeding her daughter.
As reported by The Sun , Kelly Schaecher, 28, from Clifton, Bristol, had been preparing to breastfeed her five-month-old daughter, Sasha, while eating at the cafe. After the breastfeeding mother sat down, a waitress told her that she would have to sit in the corner to breastfeed her daughter. In tears, the mother left the cafe.
In a bizarre twist, Schaecher then claims that the waitress followed her out of the cafe and shouted at her, “Don’t you ever come back to my cafe with your t*** out again!”
Terrified and shocked, the breastfeeding mother says she turned to the waitress who was berating her and said, “You don’t know what’s coming.” Breastfeeding mothers are known to come together in breastfeeding flashmobs and organized nurse-ins to help support other women who have been shamed for breastfeeding in public.
After sharing her horrible experience at the cafe on Twitter and Facebook, more than 250 breastfeeding mothers rallied together outside of the cafe. Participants in the breastfeeding flashmob lined up outside for their chance to enter and breastfeed their babies inside.
Many of the women participating in the flashmob donned signs that read “Lactavists” and “Mother Suckers.”
The breastfeeding mothers were given free coffee and cakes by apologetic cafe owner Davide Pontini.
Pontini, an Italian entrepreneur, states on The Huffington Post that he supports breastfeeding rights and breastfeeding within his cafe:
“I want to reassure you all that breastfeeding is totally OK in my cafe.
It’s not within my character to hang my head in shame and that’s why I’m here today to speak to you all and apologise.
This whole thing started from a misunderstanding but now things have changed for the better and I hope that women will feel comfortable breastfeeding here.”
Schaefer believes that the breastfeeding flashmob went well. She comments, “What we did was a peaceful gathering, not a protest, and we had a really good reaction from the police and the public.”
The breastfeeding mother also added, “It is exactly what I wanted, we’ve all had free coffee and cakes and now Davide has put the ‘we welcome breastfeeding’ sign in the window.”
Are you surprised by the positive reactions to this breastfeeding flashmob?