1. Breastfeeding mum angry after a Muslim woman used a parent’s room cubicle as a prayer room meaning she had to feed her baby out in the open.
A breastfeeding mother has demanded her local Westfield put signage above the cubicles in the parent’s room saying they’re for the exclusive use of nursing mums after she was “inconvenienced” when she went to use a cubicle and it was taken up by a women praying.
She said she hopes no other mother has to “endure” what she did.
Tatiana, who did not use her last name, told The Leader she reluctantly decided to feed her son on the couch in the shared area of the room at Westfield Doncaster, Melbourne, with other kids running about and playing.
“As I continued to sit there and feed my baby, one of the toddlers whom I assumed was her child, pulled open the curtains and there was the woman on the floor praying,” Tatjana said.
“Now I don’t have issues with religion or praying, but I was shocked that this family thought it was OK to take up this room to pray, while my son was denied a feeding room.”
“I hope no other mother has to endure this, and I would like to see signage in these rooms explaining what they are used for.”
Tatjana said “I know I can feed anywhere I like, but at the moment, he’s so inquisitive that he wants to pull his head out all the time and it’s just easier to be somewhere quiet and private.”
Tatjana said she contacted centre management but was not happy to be told they would’t be acting to stop praying women from using the rooms.
Centre management told Tatjana it would only police the use of the cubicles if “publicly indecent or dangerous” activity was taking place.
Top Comments
1. Exactly what did this baby endure?? Pretty sure the baby didnt care where they were breast fed.
Women have fought hard to have rooms set aside where they can breast feed their baby with some privacy. Those areas should not be used as an ad hoc prayer room. That is what churches/mosques etc are for.
I understand that but this baby did not endure anything. To say so is a blatant grab for attention. Inconvenient? Yes. Worthy of condemnation of an entire religious group? Not so much.
So you wouldn't mind then if you went to breastfeed your child and found a woman in there praying instead?
The baby may not have cared where it was fed, but I would feel very angry if that happened to me.
She's not condemning an entire religious group. She specifically said she has no problem with people's choice of faith. Her problem was that a room specifically made available for women to breastfeed in was being used for another purpose, and wants the shopping centre to make it clear to people that the room is only for breastfeeding mothers.
It's comparable to someone taking up a toilet cubicle to read a book. It's not the intended purpose of the cubicle, and it is inconveniencing another person who wants to use it for its intended purpose.
Parents rooms are for feeding or settling babies
Not prayer