Mothers around the world are still fighting to normalize breastfeeding in public. Despite the fact that the practice is perfectly legal in many corners of the world, there are an unfortunate number of people who still make moms feel uncomfortable doing something so natural.
The Daily Mail reports that one Rochester mom had a terrible experience trying to breastfeed in the not-so-friendly skies. It all started when Kelly Edgson-Payne, a mother of four, was on a flight from London Gatwick to Fuerteventura. She was accompanied by her husband and children. She began breastfeeding her youngest child, 1-year-old Lex, prior to takeoff when a male flight attendant told her that she could not continue to breastfeed her child.
The flight attendant was so forceful about the matter that Kelly had to pry the infant off her mid-feed, leaving baby Lex and her other young children hysterical and causing Kelly herself a great deal of embarrassment and discomfort.
To make matters worse, Kelly was later told that there was no easyJet policy against breastfeeding during takeoff.
This story first appeared on LittleThings in December 2018.
Kelly Edgson-Payne is the mother of four children, which is an admirable feat in itself.
Traveling with young children isn't easy to begin with, but Kelly was flying with a trusted airline that she'd used many times before: easyJet.
During a flight from London Gatwick to Fuerteventura with her family, she began to breastfeed the youngest of her little ones, 1-year-old Lex.
It was then that a male flight attendant approached Kelly and informed her that she could not breastfeed her son during takeoff.
She told the Daily Mail, "I was mortified. I'm not afraid to breastfeed my baby wherever — I've stopped at a breakpoint during a marathon before and fed him — but this left me embarrassed and in tears."
Both the baby and Kelly's body were jarred by the sudden interruption.
"I had to very quickly cover myself up — but my breasts were still leaking milk, because I had stopped mid-feed," she revealed.
She was appalled, especially due to the fact that she'd breastfed her other children on easyJet flights and was never given any trouble about it.
"I find it really disappointing that an airline I trust, and who we fly with all the time, actually broke the law in discriminating against me as a breastfeeding mother," she said.
Even her oldest child, 9-year-old Mia, knew what was being asked of her mother was wrong.
"Mummy, they can't tell you not to breastfeed him," Kelly recalled her daughter saying.
She decided to take up the issue with the airline upon landing and was told that passengers are, in fact, welcome to breastfeed as long as they exercise "discretion."
"What annoys and disappoints me is that there is no consistency. On their website they state, 'We support breastfeeding mothers and you can feed your baby on board at any time,'" Kelly said.
A follow-up email to customer service led to the same response she got post-flight.
"When I emailed their customer services about it afterwards, I was told, 'Passengers are allowed to breastfeed their babies on board the aircraft, as long as you are doing this in a discreet manner,'" she explained.
In a statement regarding the incident, easyJet put the blame on another airline that was operating the flight on its behalf.
According to the company's statement, "easyJet supports breastfeeding and customers flying with easyJet can breastfeed at any time during the flight. It is not our policy to ask mothers to be discreet and we make this very clear in our training." The statement continued, "This flight was operated by another airline on our behalf and while they should follow easyJet policies we are sorry this did not happen on this occasion. We have followed up to ensure this does not happen in future."
Kelly was offered a £25 voucher as compensation for the incident, but she explains that it's bigger than that.
Her bottom line was this: "I just want them to make themselves aware of the law so no other mums have to go through this."
Certainly, breastfeeding mothers shouldn't be hassled for doing what is necessary for their children. It's great that Kelly brought attention to this situation and hopefully saved other mothers the embarrassment of being treated similarly.
