Two Carleton professors organized a “nurse-in” in the comfort of the living room section of the Ikea showroom March 16, following claims that an employee asked a breastfeeding woman to take it to the restroom.
The “Flash Feed Nurse-In” was organized after Ottawa mother Brea Rehder said an Ikea employee called her “disgusting” for breastfeeding her baby in the store.
Ikea spokesperson Madeleine Löwenborg-Frick said the store has found no evidence of the interaction Rehder described, and said the complaint was false.
She said an investigation has revealed the customer was not in the store at the time and location she claims the incident occurred. She said there is footage of Rehder shopping at the store much later in the day.
“Ikea is deeply concerned about these false allegations and the impact that they can have on our brand,” she said.
Carleton associate sociology professor Jacqueline Kennelly said the event was organized because women should feel comfortable breastfeeding in public.
“We’re trying to normalize public nursing and allow women to feel as if they can nurse in public without being ashamed or embarrassed, or feeling like they have to hide away,” she said.
Shawna Rioux, mother of a 13-month-old infant and founder of a breastfeeding awareness group, participated in the nurse-in and said there were about 30 other mothers there.
She said the event was not necessarily meant to be in response to the complaint, but to generally show support to the breastfeeding community.
“It’s just about making the general public know that there’s a strong breastfeeding community in Ottawa,” Rioux said. “They don’t have to support it, but they do have to respect it . . . It would just be like you going to the grocery store, grabbing a muffin, and eating it while you’re in line.”
Rioux said the event turned into more of a “celebration.”
Ikea said they were aware of the event and supported it.
“We welcomed the participants and appreciate their support in recognizing Ikea as a company that makes them feel comfortable,” Löwenborg-Frick said.
Nancy Salgueiro, mother of three children, participated in the nurse-in with her two-year-old child to raise awareness about nursing in public, as well as for personal reasons based on past experiences.
“Based on a lot of misinformation that people were saying in the comments of all the articles about the allegations about Ikea … it just showed how much people don’t understand nursing and don’t understand the requirements and necessities for a nursing mother to be able to nurse comfortably in public,” she said.
Salgueiro said she has had multiple instances where she was asked to move when she was breastfeeding in public, all of them at pools.
“I’ve had the experience of people making comments or asking you to move, or having confrontations with somebody who doesn’t think that it’s appropriate that you’re nursing your child,” she said.
