In March 2013, Robin Kaplan created the San Diego Nursing in Public (SDNIP) Task Force in response to several local nursing in public harassment incidents. The Task Force is a collaboration between the San Diego Breastfeeding Center and the San Diego County Breastfeeding Coalition and is managed by Robin Kaplan.
The goal of the SDNIP Task Force is to educate our community about the California laws that protect a lactating parent’s right to breast/chestfeed in public and to provide support and guidance to lactating parents who have faced harassment or discrimination for breastfeeding in public. The resources provided were created with the intention to empower lactating parents, by educating them on their civil rights to breast/chestfeed in public and how to handle a harassment incident, and to empower business owners, by providing resources that they can integrate into their employee handbooks and training materials so that they are compliant with California law. This online resource is a work in progress, as we hope to include additional materials over the course of the year.
The role of the SDNIP Task Force is to maintain this free online resource for community members to prevent and ameliorate nursing in public discrimination, as well as serve as free local advocates for lactating parents who have faced harassment for breast/chestfeeding in public.
If you experience harassment or discrimination for nursing in public and need support beyond these resources, please contact us at info@sdbfc.com.
San Diego Nursing in Public Task Force Resources
Scenarios for Ways to Handle a Nursing in Public Harassment Incident
Wondering what to say when someone asks you to cover up in a store or restaurant? The following are scenarios demonstrating a situation where a lactating parent has been asked to cover up, move to another location, or leave a business due to breast/chestfeeding in public. Each scenario proposes steps that the lactating parent can take to resolve the situation proactively and immediately.
Handling a Nursing in Public Harassment Incident Without a Local Task Force
Did you or a friend just experience a nursing in public harassment incident? Want advice on how to resolve the situation peacefully? Take this miserable experience as an opportunity to educate your community on a lactating parent’s right to breast/chestfeed in public. Follow the steps that the San Diego NIP Task Force uses to resolve these situations and help change the way your community views breast/chestfeeding in public!
Template Letter to Send to a Business After a Nursing in Public Harassment Incident
Want to send a letter to a business or organization after a nursing in public harassment incident? Feel free to modify this template letter with the details of the incident and your request for resolution.
Steps to Filing a Complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing
Not able to have your harassment incident resolved peacefully? If you live in California, you can file a complaint with the DFEH to open a formal investigation of your incident. This is always the last step in our resolution process, but sometimes it is absolutely necessary.
California Laws that Protect and Enforce a lactating parent’s Right to Breast/chestfeed in Public
Did you know that California is one of the only states that not only has a law that protects a lactating parent’s right to breast/chestfeed in public, but also an enforcement provision to uphold this law? This document lists both of these civil codes, as well as offers steps to resolve a nursing in public harassment incident when it cannot be ameliorated peacefully in the moment.
Tips for Creating a Breast/chestfeeding-Friendly Policy for your Businesses
Wondering how to create a breast/chest feeding-friendly policy for your business? Wondering why this is so important in the first place? This document helps you craft a breast/chestfeeding-friend policy, which will empower your employees with the language they need to protect a lactating parent’s right to breast/chestfeed in your establishment, as well as kindly deal with a bothered patron.
Laws that Protect Your Right to Breast/Chestfeed in Public in California
California Civil Code 43.3 (1997)
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a lactating parent may breast/chestfeed her child in any location, public or private, except the private home or residence of another, where the lactating parent and the child are otherwise authorized to be present.
Unruh Civil Rights Act
Fact Sheet that describes the California Civil Code sections 51 through 51.3, which provide protection from discrimination by all business establishments in California, including housing and public accommodations. Discrimination against a breast/chestfeeding parent is considered sex discrimination under the Unruh Civil Rights Act and is protected and enforced by the law.
Additional Resources
DIY Breast/chestfeeding YouTube Channel
DIY Breast/Chestfeeding is the San Diego Breastfeeding Center's YouTube channel. You can find videos ranging from Babywearing While Breast/chestfeeding to pumping to multiple latching positions. Each 3-5 minute video walks you through easy steps to overcome mini breast/chestfeeding challenges. The Babywearing While Breastfeeding playlist is continually updated to provide you with simple tips to master these skills and nurse in public easily!
Becoming a Badass Public Breast/chestfeeder
It is possible to breast/chestfeed comfortably in public. Abby has spoken with hundreds of lactating parents to address real concerns that affect a their ability to breast/chestfeed a baby on demand. Becoming a Badass Public Breast/Chestfeeder provides you with information, resources, advice and encouragement in an easy and free e-course. Thousands of people have gained the confidence to brave the outside world with nursling in tow. Now it's your turn to gain the confidence to breast/chestfeed your baby while still living a full life as the productive member of society that you are! Abby was also on The Boob Group podcast, discussing How to Become a Badass Public Breastfeeder.
Breast/chestfeeding Law
The Breastfeeding Law website is a comprehensive online resource that lists every state and federal law that protects your right to breast/chestfeed. Covers both workplace accommodation laws (breast/chestfeeding/pumping in the workplace) and breast/chestfeeding in public laws.
4 Reasons nursing parents Should Never Breastfeed In Public
Kristina Kuzmic will make you cry laughing with this incredibly humorous, snarky, sarcastic, yet accurate video. Watch this when you need a bit of a laugh, send to a critic who comments on your Facebook photo after it gets reported for nudity/pornography, or share with new parents as encouragement to breast/chestfeed in public.
If You Don't Support Breastfeeding in Public, You Don't Support Breastfeeding
Katharine McKinney does a great job putting it simply, “if you don’t support breast/chestfeeding in public, you don’t support breast/chestfeeding.” If you hear or read a “but” after “I support breast/chestfeeding … ”, it usually means there are conditions that do not fully support breast/chestfeeding. She says, “Breastfeeding whenever, wherever a child is hungry is an integral component of breastfeeding success.” Her article gives concise reasons and rebuttals for the most common examples people give for why a parent shouldn’t breast/chestfeed in public. Check these out before you nurse in public to help form a response in the event that you’re ever confronted or read this after you’ve had a negative experience so you know what you can say if there is ever a “next time,” which we hope there won’t be.
The Problem With 'Discreet' Breast/chestfeeding
Louise, aka Mama Bean, opens her article with the definition of “discreet” and it’s mindblowing. “What is so embarrassing about seeing a child enjoying a drink of milk? What is so obtrusive, exactly, about the breast?” Her quote makes one sit back and really question where the embarrassment and obtrusiveness has stemmed from. Here at the San Diego Nursing in Public Task Force, we aim to empower nursing parents to breast/chestfeed their babies, whenever and wherever their babies are hungry. We aim to increase awareness of breast/chestfeeding, thereby increasing the awareness of the need to nurse our babies in public. Louise sums that up wonderfully in her closing sentence: “If only this milk storm of ours could spread empowerment to nursing parents everywhere... if only it could blow away the cobwebs and breast/chestfeeding myths and shower us with support and guidance. Because I have two breasts. Two magical, completely normal, indiscreet breasts.” If you have two magical, completely normal, indiscreet breasts. Rock them with pride.
The San Diego Nursing in Public Task Force would like to thank Catie Stephens, owner of Vuefinder Photography, for taking these beautiful photos of our nursing parents in public. We would also like to extend a HUGE thank you to So Childish Boutique, Progress, and Station Tavern for allowing us to photograph in their spaces and for ALWAYS supporting breast/chestfeeding in public!