Dozens of Vancouver moms packed into a popular fashion clothing store Thursday, and they weren't there to shop. They came to H&M's downtown location to breastfeed.
The nursing moms were to support Manuella Valle.
On a recent visit to H&M, she began to breastfeed her two-month-old child, Ramona, but was interrupted when a store employee asked her to use a fitting room.
"[This was] because I was offending other customers, and also she told me to mind that there were children around,'' she said.
Valle says she was told it was store policy, one that has clearly touched a nerve.
"I would love for them to explain to me like a two year old, what is so offensive about me feeding my child," said one mom, who joined the protest.
The store manager wasn't talking, but H&M spokesperson Laura Shankland says the company is sorry.
"To set the record straight, we do have a breastfeeding policy that allows women to feed their children in all our stores," she said
H&M is a Swedish retailer with 1,400 stores in 28 countries.
Shankland says part of that policy is to offer moms the use of a fitting room or a chair, if they want.
"It wasn't handled in the best possible way. That is clear."
Meanwhile, a protest is also brewing in London, Ont., where a woman says staff at a La Senza store chastised her for breastfeeding.
"I felt violated... you would eat your big mac in public, why can't my baby eat his big mac in public," the woman said.
Rights advocates say breastfeeding women are protected by the provincal human rights code, which prevents discrimination on the basis of sex.
For more information, check the Infant Feeding Action Coalition website
With reports by CTV British Columbia's Maria Weisgarber and the Canadian Press.
