Subscribe to Our Feed!Last week was a rough one, if you remember correctly. I was in desperate need of my one night away. I had spent weeks on end pumping a total of fifty-two ounces to leave with my Mom who would be watching LittleBrother for less than twenty-four hours. The anxieties and issues kept piling one on top of the other and I was just simply ready for my break.
In the midst of everything, I got an e-mail reminding me of the invitation to Johnson’s Camp Baby. (Apparently my first e-mail came during a sleepless phase and I missed it completely.) It was a three day, all-expenses-paid trip. Considering “Baby” was in the title and I have an almost four month old infant, I e-mailed my contact back asking one simple question: Was my infant invited as well?
You see, I had no problem leaving BigBrother with one Grandma or the other. He loves spending time at either house and, quite frankly, I love for him to have that bonding experience. My Grandparents were hugely important in how I grew up. But LittleBrother is exclusively breastfed. As I said, it took me a few weeks to get enough milk to leave the child for less than twenty-four hours. And I respond well to the pump.
So, imagine my surprise when my contact e-mailed me back saying that children were not welcome, citing something about legal issues and insurance costs. (While another mother was told that it was meant to be a child-free getaway for Moms… so, which is it?) My contact then told me to forward her e-mails of any blogging mothers who might like to go. I didn’t reply. I didn’t tell other mothers. And over the past week, I’ve gotten even more miffed.
LittleBrother is exclusively breastfed. No formula. None. Due to the short notice, I don’t even think it’s humanly possible to pump enough milk for him to be away from me for three days unless I just sat attached to the pump and didn’t feed him anything between now and then. Apparently Johnson’s is not a breastfeeding friendly company. I didn’t ask to bring my loud, active, bouncing two year old along. I asked to bring along the kid who thinks that my breast is his permanent location. I asked to bring along the kid that uses me as his only source of sustenance at this point in time. Heck, the only time LittleBrother cries is when he’s hungry… which would be the point of bringing him along so crying should have been minimal.
I’m not quite sure why it’s named “Camp Baby” if babies are not welcome. Perhaps a better name would have been “Camp Mom.” Other mothers have been dis-invited as well, though that one is for a different reason. See this blog for another experience exactly like mine. I find it ridiculous, insulting and a blatant indication how our country doesn’t support breastfeeding mothers. We’re harassed in public if we try to feed our children. We’re told to cover up. We’re told to feed our kids in dirty bathroom stalls. And then a company that makes products specifically for my child’s age range doesn’t want to accommodate my breastfeeding infant?
That’s okay. I won’t use my money to accommodate your business. No problem there.
It might behoove the company to a) research the bloggers you are inviting, b) come up with the same answer when replying to people who are wont to write about anything because now you look like a bunch of liars who can’t keep your story straight, c) you know, cater to the people who actually buy your products instead of ostracizing them. Apparently logic is so yesterday.
25 Responses to “Breastfeeding? Too Bad for You! Or, Me!”
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I am going – and am looking forward to going – but am sad that I’ll miss seeing some folks who would have otherwise attended if they didn’t have nursing babies.
I appreciate the concept of “retreat,” but 99% of the nursing mothers I know are respectful enough to know when to “exit stage left” when their child needs attention. If there are women nursing discretely and quietly, their presence would not distract from my “retreat.”
So yes, I am disappointed to read about the controversy surrounding what I hope will be an amazing event. But as this is their first year, and as they are already responding to the posts surrounding various issues, I expect that if they do something similar again, it will be with the “hindsight” of what happened this year.
Yikes! Sounds like a really bad move on their part.
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Liability? I call bullshit. I have employed child care agencies at several of my events (I am a professional event planner). They carry their own insurance and you sign releases, blah blah blah. Next time maybe they should call someone like KiddieCorp. They are a profession, well organized team with tons of experience at events exactly like this.
And a note to J&J: if you’re putting on an event, hire some meeting planners, not just a PR firm. It is a real career and not just something someone does because they helped plan their cousin’s wedding once.
That’s absolutely ridiculous! I’d be furious. As much as I enjoy a getaway from motherhood every now and again, to be UN-INVITED to something called “Camp Baby” specifically because I planned on bringing a baby with me, would just burn my shorts. That doesn’t even make sense!! Idiots.
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Wow! I actually probably wouldn’t have even thought of asking if it was okay to bring along my newborn… So, I probably would have shown up with my LO. You know, I wouldn’t go to a LLL conference or a babywearing conference and expect to have to ask if my LO was invited so why would I think any differently for something named “Camp Baby”? Very poor on their part… and if they had that “rule” they should have just stated it on the invite. Considering their target market for their products, it is truly amazing how much they do NOT understand their audience. I hope all of you were were uninvited pool together a complaint about this and how badly it reflects on their corporation.
[...] disinvited after-the-fact because they were told they weren’t allowed to bring slung babies, breast feeding babies or simply because they would be unable make it to the entire camp due to another popular female [...]
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This is crazy. I’ll be sure to boycott their products.
[...] their apologies at City Mama’s and Mothergoosemouse’s blogs. As it turns, out both Firemom and Sweet|Salty Kate were disinvited because of nursing babies as well. Check out a [...]
I’m so outraged on your behalf.
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