Whitney Walters wanted to put together a scrapbook of her 6-year-old daughter. She sent her pictures off to Walmart, but when she arrived to pick them up they told her multiple photos of hers were indecent and would not be printed. The indecent act? Breastfeeding her daughter. Aside from that vague comment they would not explain, specifically, why they could not print them. Public Relations for Walmart has not issued a statement.
No woman should be told that nursing her child is sexual in a manner and that should be done privately or should not be taken photographs of.
Update: We have spoken to Whitney and she adds:
The situation has been resolved. Walmart did contact me and they did apologize.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolate incident. In August, a New Hampshire Walmart declined to print a collage for Iris Litteiro, because it included beautiful breastfeeding shots that they found “inappropriate”. But Walmart apologized.
Just last month a Walmart employee in Montreal berated a mother for nursing her 11 month old, who was being worn in a wrap while she shopped.
She was going on about how ‘babies can wait, they don’t have to do that in public,’ and that she was a mother and would never think of [breastfeeding] in public. She also said that babies older than one or two weeks of age should be able to wait,
But Walmart Canada apologized.
In February, a woman was harassed for nursing in an Oklahoma Walmart. After a nurse-in occurred Walmart US confirmed their policy is to support nursing moms and apologized.
Am I the only one seeing a trend here? Walmart shames nursing moms, Walmart apologizes. Everyone moves on. Next month it happens again. I think it’s time Walmart sends out a company wide memo and starts retraining employees on nursing laws. It is clear their public comments are not getting to all employees. Take notes from Target, Walmart. A clear concise policy, posted for all employees and customers to see should do the trick.
