A mum was left “utterly humiliated” after she was told off for breastfeeding at a museum.
Fae Church had been trying to breastfeed her three-month-old son at The University Museum of Zoology in Cambridge on Saturday, October 15, when a member of staff told her off.
They reportedly told the mum “it’s not ok because no food and drink are allowed” in the museum, CambridgeLive reported.
Fae, 35 from Haverhill, Suffolk, visited the museum with her husband Aaron Church, 35 and their two children; Sophie, 5, and Reuben three months old.
The family were meeting Fae’s mum and sister in Cambridge later that day so thought they’d “pop into” the museum beforehand as Sophie had been once before and had really enjoyed it.
They entered at around 4.10pm knowing it closed at 4.30pm and had a quick look around.
The University Museum of Zoology is part of the University of Cambridge, it covers two floors and admission is free.
The family were on the upper floor when their youngest, Reuben started crying and needed feeding.
Fae said: “I said to my husband, you go off with Sophie and look around and I'll just find somewhere quiet in the corner to feed him.”
Fae wanted to find a quiet area to feed her son, so found a little area next to a Komodo dragon skeleton at the museum where there was a corner, a pillar and a chair.
She grabbed the chair and put it around the side because “there was someone near it at the time” and said she "went around the other side away from them.
“I positioned myself with the pillar to my back and my buggy in front of me to act as a screen, I try and be as private as I possibly can with it and so I sat there” she added.
The mum said she sat there “quite happily” breastfeeding Reuben for around five minutes.
She had a jacket on, and a scarf over the top with the buggy in front, a few people walked past but the mum said: “they didn’t pay any attention to me they were looking at the exhibits.”
After Fae had finished breastfeeding she started to wind her three-month-old son but said she noticed a woman who worked at the museum walk past and claims she gave her a “sort of funny sideways glance”.
Fae engaged with the woman and said: “I hope you don't mind, I just made this my breastfeeding corner”.
Fae continued: “There was a sort of silence and she looked at me again and she went ‘actually no, it’s not ok because no food and drink are allowed to be consumed in the museum’.
“I stared at her, my jaw slightly went open and I didn’t know what to say, she then said ‘there is a café upstairs, you should have gone there’.”
Describing how this felt the mum said: “I felt utterly humiliated like a little girl at school, just getting told off, I didn't know what to say”.
After this encounter, Fae said she replied to the guide saying: “Oh well he’s finished feeding now anyway”.
Fae claims the guide looked at her again and then walked off.
Fae said she was left “absolutely stunned”, adding that she has breastfed both her children and this was the first time she has received anything negative towards breastfeeding in public. Fae added: “especially from a woman, I found it quite shocking.
“She seemed disgruntled with me. It was just bizarre and it left me really shaken up.”
When husband, Aaron came back with daughter Sophie, Fae explained what had happened.
They were going to speak with the woman again but couldn’t find her, and as they were in a rush to meet Fae’s mum and sister they didn’t have time to report the incident to another member of staff on the day.
Explaining how she felt for the rest of the day Fae said: “I was absolutely shaken by it, I just couldn't believe it. She was making me feel humiliated by it. I did just feel about three inches high in that moment, it wasn't nice.”
The mum also said: “It was the way she said it, there wasn't any kindness from her comments. Most people would have helped me, because I had a big buggy with me and you have your baby in your arms, it's difficult finding places to breastfeed.
“And I’ve never been to the café upstairs, I didn’t know if it was open or how to get to it. With a baby crying you just go and find an area as quick as you possibly can to settle them.
“If she had come over and said ‘there's a nice area here or I can help you go there’, that would have been perfectly normal and a kind thing to do.”
The mum of two adds: “Breastfeeding, it's hard and exhausting and you have to really persevere to do it, just generally, that alone being made to feel like you shouldn't be doing it when you’re out and about.
We should all be supporting each other, especially as a woman, she should support me to be doing something that's natural, and the best thing I can possibly do for my child, it’s quite shameful behaviour.”
The University Museum of Zoology states on its website under the ‘visiting with families’ section “Breastfeeding and bottle feeding is welcomed in all Museum spaces”.
In a response to this a spokesperson for The University Museum of Zoology said: “On behalf of all the staff and volunteers at the Museum of Zoology we can only apologise wholeheartedly for what happened to Fae and the way she was made to feel. We absolutely allow and welcome breastfeeding and bottle-feeding in all our public spaces.
"We pride ourselves on being a family-friendly museum and it’s terrible that a visitor was treated in this manner. The volunteer she spoke to made an unfortunate mistake, one which is not reflective of our culture or policy.
“As soon as we were made aware of what had happened, we shared it with the whole volunteer and staff team. We’ve ensured that they know how important it is that visitors should feel comfortable breastfeeding and bottle-feeding in the Museum, to avoid visitors being left feeling the way she has been, with some specific pointers about how they can support parents who ask about quieter spots they can use.
"We will also be more specific about this in inductions for new volunteers working in the galleries.
"Our visitor engagement volunteers are typically an incredibly supportive team, helping people get the most out of their visits – it’s so unusual that things go wrong in the way they have here. We are hopeful that with these extra communications, events like this won’t happen again.”
