Kerri-Anne show - breastfeeding Brisbane woman forced to get off bus

**redcrayongirl** · 12-08-2010 11:01

Wow the attitudes on the Kerri-Anne show today were so out of date. Did anyone see it?? I was that annoyed I emailed the show. Below is the email I sent them.

I watched with interest the segment on the Brisbane woman who was forced to walk after being made to exit a bus because she was breastfeeding. I feel the comments made by one of the female presenters did not go far enough (not Shelly Craft, the dark-haired lady). She stated she "never felt comfortable breast-feeding in public". Well that may be the case for her, but women need to be supported in their efforts to breastfeed their children. I mean, are we supposed to stay at home chained to the couch??? One one hand society encourages us to breastfeed our children yet the support just isn't there a lot of the time. As a mother of a 6-week old baby I need to get out and about to appointments and if I happen to be on public transport when my little one needs to feed, so be it. I mean really you're not seeing any more than you'd see at the beach! I am disappointed by the reactions given by the Kerri-Anne team as already there isn't enough support in this issue. As a single mum trying to continue breast-feeding my child, antiquated attitudes are only going to further hinder my efforts. A very interesting point to note is that the goverment hospitals especially Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital, strongly promote and encourage breastfeeding, in fact they have a poster with a breast-feeding mother which bears the message "she isn't wrong to breastfeed. You're wrong if you ask her to stop". This is the same government that employs the bus driver. This issue isn't just about "quieting a screaming child". It's about women being supported in their breastfeeding by feeling free to do it wherever they may be - if women feel they have to stay hidden at home they'll be less likely to breastfeed as let's face it, it's a fact of life we have to get out and about and conduct our business in the world - not everyone has a personal assistant that can run their errands while they stay home feeding the baby.

**FearlessLeader** · 12-08-2010 11:05

Didn't see it but that bus driver should be sacked

I feed DS on public transport all the bloody time. I WISH someone would come up to me in public and tell me to stop

In fact I wish the law went further than just protecting women to BF where ever they want- it should be an offence to ask a BFing woman to stop.

**alpacamum** · 12-08-2010 11:11

I'd love someone to ask you to stop too ali: but would like to see the video footage thanks!

I agree and good on you for emailing them redcrayongirl- I didnt see it but I am a public breastfeeder almost to the point of exhibitionism

- and in a small country town it is usually very well supported. But in the city a lot of people need to get real and understand the natural process of feeding a child. Screw it if you feel uncomfortable thats YOUR problem not ours.
That bus driver should be sacked, and the other commuters should have stood up for the poor woman.

**JabberJaw** · 12-08-2010 11:16

OMG i cant believe stuff like that continues to happen. If they had of tried that on me i would have remained in my seat and flat out refused to exit the bus....they could have called the police, i would have called the media and had the driver named,shamed and sacked.

Disgusting, thats what it is. If you dont like breastfeeding, dont look. Simple really.

**trishalishous** · 12-08-2010 11:27

Originally Posted by JabberJaw

OMG i cant believe stuff like that continues to happen. If they had of tried that on me i would have remained in my seat and flat out refused to exit the bus....they could have called the police, i would have called the media and had the driver named,shamed and sacked.

Disgusting, thats what it is. If you dont like breastfeeding, dont look. Simple really.

I have the local papers number on my phone, just in case!
last night I breastfed in the doc waiting room, through the consult,down the road to the chemist, in the chemist, down the road to mcdonalds, while ordering and drinking a coffee, then DD had a quick snack as we walked back to the car.
the only comment was the doc asked if I was bf, when prescribing antibiotics, then said 'whoops, silly question'

**trishalishous** · 12-08-2010 11:29

Originally Posted by aliblue

In fact I wish the law went further than just protecting women to BF where ever they want- it should be an offence to ask a BFing woman to stop.

gods I wish it was!

**Nomsie** · 12-08-2010 11:34

Originally Posted by aliblue

Didn't see it but that bus driver should be sacked

I feed DS on public transport all the bloody time. I WISH someone would come up to me in public and tell me to stop

In fact I wish the law went further than just protecting women to BF where ever they want- it should be an offence to ask a BFing woman to stop.

It is in Vic.

It is illegal to ask a breastfeeding woman to stop bf'ing anywhere, anytime.

I wish it were everywhere. I don't know about other states, but I think it's such a shame that a) it either *isn't* the law in all states or b) it is, but people aren't aware of it.

Had it of been me that had been booted off the bus, I would have taken the drivers name and number and gone to police.

(But then there is the whole issue of how seriously the police would take it; one can only hope it would be treated as seriously as any other law that was broken, but I can still imagine a large number of police*men* wouldn't be comfortable dealing with it and just ignore it. But I hope I'm wrong.)

**bel_aiden** · 12-08-2010 11:42

just trying to chase up the story.. al;l i can find is a story in england, which was in qld newspapers... is that it or has some1 got a link to the story?

btw, i think its appalling that this can happen

**ThereIsNoPlaceLikeHome** · 12-08-2010 11:50

This may be the story, however the women was in Manchester, England not Brisbane, Australia

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/837795-m...thrown-off-bus

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ester-10941734

Also part of the article says...

Sagecoach Manchester said: "We have now carried out a thorough review of CCTV footage from our buses, based on the information provided to us by the mother concerned, and have also spoken to regular passengers on the route to try and obtain more details about the circumstances involved in this case.

"While we have identified the customer boarding the service as described, the voice-enabled CCTV footage quite clearly shows that there was no dialogue between the mother and the driver."

**redcrayongirl** · 12-08-2010 12:00

yeah i just tried to find the story as well and could only find the one in England, which must be it as it was published today. On the Kerri-Anne show the presenter did say Brisbane when mentioning ig which is why I was so interested. But still!! My big gripe was with the show. One of the people discussing the issue really had the opinion that you should do it at home as much as possible, and that you are really inconveniencing others if you have to do it out and about. They seemed really ill-informed and basically acted like it is a topic of much debate and very controversial. Um, hello - it is legal to breastfeed in public. And it's breastfeeding week!!