A mum was shocked when she was asked to cover up and then leave her seat when breastfeeding her daughter during a church service.
Annie Peguero, a personal trainer and nutrition specialist from the US, shared a video of herself explaining what happened on 24 April.
“Friends, my heart hurts because the church I have been in love with has a rule against breastfeeding without a cover during the service,” she wrote on the caption of the video.
“I was asked to leave my seat for feeding my baby.”
The mum explained she had originally breastfed outside before taking her daughter to the church’s baby room.
“Right away, the church workers started freaking over and waving their hands, but I kept nursing,” she said.
“They were like: ‘Let me get you a cover’ and I said no and they said: ‘Oh here’s a cover’.”
Peguero said the church workers brought over a fleece blanket and put it over her daughter and started to touch and play with her while she was feeding.
The mum said she found it uncomfortable, but finished feeding her daughter and dropped her off in the baby room, before heading into the church service.
While she was in church, she received a text to say she was needed in the baby room because her daughter was crying. She went and got her daughter, went back into the church service and started to feed her.
“Straight away, a woman came over and said: ‘We have a nice baby room, let’s go there’ and I said: ‘No it’s okay’ but she said: ‘Come on, we have to go now’,” Peguero explained
She was asked to leave her seat and so she and the church worker went to the back. The woman explained she had four children and breastfeeds “everywhere”, but the reason Peguero couldn’t do it in church was because they were live streaming the service online.
When Peguero said she didn’t mind about that, the woman reportedly said: “What if a new church goer who is a man sees you and feels uncomfortable?”
Peguero said on the video: “My mind was blown, guys, I said: ‘I cannot believe you are saying this to me right now’.
“I’ll never set foot in that church again and that makes me really sad. I feel it’s important to feed my daughter whenever and wherever and just give her milk.”
Peguero asked to speak to the pastor’s wife, who reiterated the policy that they are encouraged to ask mums to feed their children in the baby room and cover up.
The pastor’s wife woman also reportedly said: “We don’t want to make a man feel uncomfortable.”
Peguero said she was shocked at their policy and asked others not to be discouraged by breastfeeding because of comments like this.
The video has been viewed more than 12,000 times in four days.
“Nope! I nurse uncovered all the time in church,” a mum wrote. “We have a nursing room too if you prefer privacy. Everything is ok. No one is phased. Sorry that happened to you.”
Another commented: “This blows my mind. I see more of a breast when walking through a mall past a lingerie or swimsuit shop than a woman breastfeeding her baby.”
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