On a recent Carnival cruise, North Carolina mom, Crystal Silvas, was nursing her 9 month old daughter aboard near one swimming pool area, when two of the ship's officers began flailing their arms at her in front of other passengers. "The men in white started waving their arms really high and saying to 'cut it out!' and told me I couldn't feed her anywhere outside my stateroom," said Silvas, and added, "It was absolutely the most humiliating moment of my life.
Deeply hurt by the experience, Silvas said the experience "ruined her vacation" and that the weeks following have been "the most stressful" she can imagine. Silvas is mom to two adopted children and reached out to Carnival about its breastfeeding policy, but did not receive a straight answer for two weeks. At that time she reached out to news station, FOX 46 Charlotte, who obtained results for Silvas within hours.
The cruise line has since apologized, and this is Carnival’s complete statement in response:
Guests traveling on a Carnival cruise are free to breastfeed in any location on board. We sincerely apologize if your viewer was given information to the contrary or made to feel uncomfortable. We are further researching this and will ensure the shipboard team is clear that women are free to breastfeed in both public and private areas of the ship.
Carnival has also offered Silvas and her family a complementary cruise to compensate for this bad experience.
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Related:
The Breastfeeding Group (for nursing mothers and IBCLCs): FB.com/groups/Breastfed
Breastfeeding Books: http://astore.amazon.com/peacefparent-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=1
Encouraging breastfeeding items, bracelets, and 'thank you for nursing in public' cards: DrMomma.org/2007/02/breastfeeding-info-cards-etc.html
Induced Lactation: DrMomma.org/2010/04/induced-lactation.html
My Adoptive Breastfeeding Journey: DrMomma.org/2010/10/my-adoptive-breastfeeding-journey.html
Breastfeeding My Adoptive Child: DrMomma.org/2009/08/special-gift-breastfeeding-adopted.html
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