YMCA Banns Breast-Feeding At Pool - Bare Breasts Distracting

[matcom]

:popcorn:

<snip>

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The lifeguards find bare breasts distracting.

That's one of the reasons officials at the Ann Arbor, Mich., YMCA said they've banned breast-feeding at the pool.

But nursing moms counter that's no excuse.

The breast-feeding mothers plan a nurse-in at the Y Saturday to protest the ban.

However, Krista Dragun, one of the protest organizers, said they'll be nursing their babies in the lobby, not the pool area. She said they want the Y to adopt a more mother-baby friendly policy for the pool.

Y officials note there's no eating or drinking allowed at the pool for anyone and nursing can be distracting for lifeguards. But they add mothers are welcome to nurse their babies in other areas of the facility.

http://www.wftv.com/family/6498118/detail.html

[Atmashine]

1. HA!

I find even covered breasts distracting.

[jmm]

2. So bathing suits intended to distract are still ok

but a woman trying to take care of her child who is probably exposing less of her self than most other people isn't. Atleast when a woman nurses her child it isn't crying and causing a bigger distraction.

[ScreamingMeemie]

3. Welcome to Michigan...Home of the Progressives...

Even the progressive towns....aren't. Well they claim they are, but the only *sort of* progressive town here is Royal Oak, and it's over crowded with wannabes. :hi:

[progmom]

6. while ann arbor isn't even half as progressive as it claims to be...

...i still think it at least qualifies as *sort of* progressive. ;)

[ScreamingMeemie]

16. Okay...I'll give you...It's way more progressive than St. Clair Shores...

aka the armpit of Michigan. ;)

[dr.strangelove]

4. Breasts are distracting, get out of town

I guess the lifeguards are okay with 19 year olds in bikinis, but not moms feeding children. Of course breasts are distracting. If a lifeguard sees an attractive woman in a bikini he/she needs to ignore it and do the job. If a lifeguard sees a mother breastfeeding he/she needs to ignore it and do the job. Of course I think the two offer very different distractions. I can't really see how a breastfeeding mom can distract someone, but I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt that it can be a distraction. Suck it up and do your job.

[ForrestGump]

5. I'd allow it only if

they brought enough to share with everybody...

[ET Awful]

7. LOL . . . "no eating or drinking allowed at the pool for anyone"

Even babies damn it!!!!!

If I can't drink at the pool, neither can your infant!

I do have to ask one question though . . . . who the hell goes swimming in Ann Arbor in January? :P

[progmom]

8. indoor pool, silly

and it's a really nice one. :D

[LisaL]

10. They don't allow people to eat or drink in the pool.

And that baby is not going to expire if he/she isn't fed in the pool, while mother is going to the lobby. Some people even believe in feeding their babies on schedule. Imagine that. It's completely insanitary to sit in the freaking pool while breastfeeding a baby.

[ET Awful]

22. Sorry the words "in the pool" aren't mentioned anywhere in my post

The words are "at the pool" meaning the area surrounding the pool, etc.

Thanks for twisting my words though, I always enjoy it when someone misrepresents what I said in pursuit of their own agenda.

[Misunderestimator]

9. Question is... could the village people breast-feed there.

I'd be willing to bet there will be a whole lot more breast-feeding mothers in the lobby now. Good for them!!

[1gobluedem]

11. She was breast-feeding IN the pool...

...at the beginning. Then moved to the side when asked.

The Y was stupid to say that the sight of the breasts was distracting because that's what everyone jumped on. They have a policy that childen under a certain age have to have an adult in the pool with them; this woman was in the pool with her three year old and nursing her baby. Y officials are concerned about the safety of the smaller kids if the mother is occupied with nursing.

The Y allows breastfeeding everywhere else in the building, just not in the pool area.

[anarch]

12. people shouldn't eat at the pool anyway

they might get a cramp and drown.

:shrug:

[Divameow77]

13. Didn't this just happen last summer?

But it was a waterpark and the lifeguard asked the bresatfeeding mom to exit the pool?
I don't think it's very sanitary to breastfeed while sitting in a pool, but I imagine there is worse things in that water.

[Fox Mulder]

14. You know...

is there really any need to breast feed in a pool? Seriously...

:hide:

[miss_american_pie]

15. If you have other lids

some pools require children of a certain age have an adult with them. And if the pool rule is no food or drink, a bottle wouldn't have been okay either.

I suppose the family wouldn't really "need" to use the pool at all.

[LisaL]

17. They can get out of the pool, go to the lobby, and feed that baby

all they want. Why on Earth should they be allowed to sit in the water and feed the kid in the pool itself?
Ridiculous.

[Arugula Latte]

19. Why shouldn't they?

What's the big deal? :shrug: I seriously don't get why people don't have better things to get themselves all worked up about.

[Arugula Latte]

18. What if you're watching an older child ...

and the baby gets hungry?

Honestly, I find this pathetic. These people who are offended should get over it.

[LisaL]

20. The baby is not going to drop dead the second he/she gets

hungry. Get out of the water and feed the baby then.

[Fox Mulder]

21. Couldn't she just leave the pool area?

Seriously...

[Arugula Latte]

23. Why?

:shrug:

[Fox Mulder]

24. Why?

Common courtesy.

[miss_american_pie]

26. What is "discourteous" about breastfeeding?

[TimeChaser]

27. Courtesy to whom?

What kind of person is bothered by a woman feeding her baby? :shrug:

[Fox Mulder]

28. Well...

some people just don't want to see that.

That's all.

[TimeChaser]

29. Some people

don't want to see a gay couple being affectionate in public. Why must we accommodate their hang ups?

[miss_american_pie]

25. If ...

The article doesn't give me much to go on so this is all supposition.

If she could have found someone else to watch an older child. If it wasn't a swimmimg lesson she could have dragged them both? all? out of the pool.

If this is a sanitation issue why did the Y even cite the "distraction?"