Ikea Apologizes to Mother Insulted for Breastfeeding

Ottawa, Ontario – This vibrant city of nearly 1.25 million people is the fourth largest city in this modern G-7 nation. However, Brea Rehder, a breastfeeding mother, wonders aloud whether enough people realize that the year is 2014 and not 1914. She considers herself a modern woman in a modern age.

She took her baby daughter, two year old son, and a good friend with her to the local Ikea, a Swedish home goods store known for innovative products and furnishings, with the objective of buying a few pieces of furniture for her home. What she got instead was harassment by the store manager for breastfeeding her baby in public.

Rehder calls the experience the worst ordeal of her life. That’s not the kind of advertising the store desires.

Also, given the fact that mothers buy lots of furniture, it’s not a target demographic that any business wants to offend. Everything went as expected until her daughter got hungry while they waited for a price check. Rehder did what she knows her daughter needs for both nourishment and comfort: breastfeeding. However, the store manager refused to validate the price for one of the items she wanted to purchase until she was finished with her disgusting behavior. He added that she ought to take her baby to the bathroom to feed her and stop causing a delay for other shoppers waiting in line. Oddly enough the manager in question was a woman.

Ikea has since apologized to Rehder and made it clear they welcome the practice in their stores.

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Source:
http://www.cfra.com/news/2014/03/13/ikea-apologizes-to-ottawa-mother-allegedly-called-disgusting-for-breastfeeding