Las Vegas mothers protest right to breastfeed in public

Dozens of mothers gathered for a protest Wednesday, exercising their right to breastfeed in public as part of a “nurse in” staged at the Centennial Hills YMCA.

The nurse in, inspired by a similar nationwide protest at Target stores in 2011, comes less than a month after a pair of breastfeeding mothers said they were booted off property owned or operated by the city of Las Vegas.

Charity Schneider, 33, was shooed away from the site of Wednesday’s protest after breastfeeding her 16-month-old son at the YMCA pool on June 25.

Nikola Samson, 37, was kicked out of city-owned Garside Pool under similar circumstances just five days later.

Nevada law permits breast feeding in all public and private places, “irrespective of whether the nipple of the mother’s breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breastfeeding.”

Both Schneider and Samson said they were approached by lifeguards who felt that law didn’t apply to public pools.

Neither felt their case was unique, part of the reason they helped organize this week’s nurse in.

“In my experience, people make more of a spectacle trying to prevent (breastfeeding) than if they just left it alone,” Samson, a mother of three, said Monday. “People, especially women, will try to physically cover you up, and that’s discouraging to me.

“It’s disturbing that these things are sometimes left up to one person’s discretion. I know the state law, but a lot of women and a lot of employees just don’t.”

Schneider, a mother of five, was shocked to hear a lifeguard tell her that breastfeeding was “not permitted” at the Centennial Hills YMCA late last month.

It was not the first time Schneider had nursed a toddler at the pool. She’s sure it will not be the last.

“When it happened I felt a little bit shameful and that’s crazy, because I’ve been breastfeeding for 12 years,” Schneider said. “This isn’t an isolated event. ... I can imagine a new mom, who doesn’t have that experience, would have been horrified.

“My goal here is not to shame or shun anybody. In fact, I’m glad it happened, because it helps raise awareness.”

Protest organizers first picked up on Schneider’s story through an Internet message board for Centennial Hills-based moms.

They say the issue has gone viral, drawing in reports of at least three similar incidents around the Las Vegas Valley and attracting sympathetic Facebook posts, tweets and emails from as far away as Nova Scotia.

Dorothy Waldron, an advocate of breastfeeding who helped push through a statewide breastfeeding law more than 20 years ago, said that’s exactly the kind of attention the issue needs.

Waldron, one of more than 100 who planned to attend Wednesday’s protest at YMCAs across the Valley, hopes the nurse in will help educate mothers — and public employees — on Nevada law.

“I lived in Australia for two years and you’d never see anything like this there because (breastfeeding) is just normal, it’s accepted,” she said.

“Still, all these years later, there’s so many people who don’t know the law. ... I think it’s just a lack of information, but events like this help.”

Southern Nevada YMCA spokeswoman Cheryl Bella said the nonprofit organization has no written policy regarding breastfeeding at any of its facilities, though it does enforce rules against food and beverages at the pool.

Bella said the organization has since reviewed state law with its employees.

“This has never come up,” she said Monday. “Now that it has, we’re letting everyone know that our rules are superseded by state law.”

The city of Las Vegas, which owns the Centennial Hills pool and recreation facilities operated by the YMCA, also has no written policy regarding breastfeeding.

City spokesman Jace Radke said city pools do have strict rules regarding unattended minors, policies a lifeguard felt Samson violated while nursing at Garside Pool late last month.

He said pool employees have since been briefed on state law.

“The lifeguard in that instance wasn’t concerned about (the breastfeeding), but about the kid in the pool,” Radke said. “My understanding is that pool staff reached out to (Samson) afterward.

“I think what happened is a couple of people weren’t up to speed on the law, but that’s been rectified.”

YMCA officials and Ward 6 City Councilman Steve Ross plan to sit down with Schneider and other event organizers on Thursday for a meeting aimed at resolving employee training and education issues.

Contact James DeHaven atjdehaven@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3839. Find him on Twitter: @JamesDeHaven.