Moms Stage a Nurse-In at Walmart to Protest 'Harassment' of Breastfeeding Mother

More than a dozen women gathered at a Greenville, SC, Walmart on Monday for a nurse-in to protest what they say was the harassment of a nursing mother at the store.

On July 4, Shawnee Colabella was shopping at the White Horse Road Walmart with her infant son when he began to fuss. Colabella, who was wearing two shirts to cover herself, sat down in the store to breastfeed him.

She soon found herself surrounded by about 10 employees. 

"Not only were they staring at me, they were making rude and disgusting comments about how disgusting what I was doing was, and how I should cover myself, and how if what I was doing was even legal," Colabella told WBTV. 

Colabella stopped nursing and asked to speak to the store's manager. When she was denied, she attempted to call corporate and to reach them via Facebook. She was told that she would her back within three days, but when she still had not heard from corporate, Colabella and her sister organized the nurse-in.

"I want my son to be able to eat whenever he's hungry, however we are comfortable," Colabella told Greenville Online.

The women in the protest breastfed their babies publicly and waved signs to get the attention of both customers and Walmart employees. 

Crystal Howard, who manages Upstate SC Breastfeeders and participated in the protest, said that out of 100 people who saw the nurse-in, about 30 were supportive. 

"A lot of people walked by, a few were staring," Howard told Patch. "A couple people stopped who said, 'I don't understand why you're doing this, you should go to the bathroom.'"

Walmart representatives contacted Colabella with an apology after the nurse-in. 

"We welcome nursing mothers to breastfeed their child in our store," said Randy Hargrave, a corporate spokesperson for Walmart. "We recognize the intimate and personal nature of the decision a mother makes to breastfeed their child - and we never want to make her feel unwelcome in our stores because of it. We apologize if our customer felt uncomfortable during her store visit."

Shawnee wrote on the nurse-in Facebook page that although Walmart said they would "educate employees," she will not be returning to shop if she can help it. 

"As a mother should it's your responsibility to take care of your child," Howard said. "It's other's responsibilities about how they feel about it."