A mom in Georgia was left in tears after her trip to the water park last week. Tiffany Francis was at Rigby's Water World in Georgia enjoying some time in the lazy river with her 11-month-old son. Right before his nap time, she did what she always does and nursed him to sleep.
Soon, she heard a lifeguard telling her "Ma'am you can't do that."
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Francis took to Facebook to explain the whole situation.
"My son is 11 months old and when it was getting to be his nap time, like I do every visit, I got in the lazy river to nurse him to sleep," she wrote.
"So he was latched and a lifeguard told me 'ma’am you can’t breastfeed in the lazy river.' I kind of laughed because I thought he was just making a joke in very poor taste," she wrote.
After telling her that she couldn't breastfeed in the lazy river, Francis explained that the lifeguard got on his radio and had another female employee tell Francis that she couldn't breastfeed there.
"I asked her if it was posted somewhere and she told me that it was posted in the rules out front so I got out of the lazy river, and I went to read the rules," the mom continued.
She added that she didn't see any rules about babies, except that they needed to wear swim diapers, which her baby was.
Francis continued to be passed off to employee after employee until she was able to talk to the park manager. The manager told her that it was a "courtesy to other people" that she not breastfeed her son in the lazy river.
"I asked it’s just a made up rule, because it’s not posted anywhere? It’s just something that they decided to say was a rule," she shared. She added that the manager "smartly" told her there's a rule stating no food or drinks in the water.
"I asked so my boobs aren’t allowed in the water?"
Francis talked to her local news channel and had this to say about nursing mothers.
"If she's lactating she may leak. She may hear a baby crying and start dripping out a little. I mean the argument of no food in the drink is absolutely ridiculous," she said, according to News 9.
She tearfully asked for a refund of her season pass but was denied.
"The employees and the people involved there have been rude to me. I just feel really unwelcomed to even go there which sucks," she said.
According to Georgia Code 31-1-9, "The breastfeeding of a baby is an important and basic act of nurture which should be encouraged in the interests of maternal and child health. A mother may breastfeed her baby in any location where the mother and baby are otherwise authorized to be."
Her Facebook post got a lot of love but also a lot of backlash and hate for her taking a stand.
"I just want other moms to feel comfortable feeding in public whether in the water or anywhere else. It's okay and you can do it!" Francis shared.
