DETROIT – A mother breastfeeding at Children’s Hospital of Michigan said she was told to cover up and that a security guard then threw a sheet over her and her 2-month-old baby.
Alecia Dillard brought her young son to the hospital because he was ill and didn’t have an appetite.
“Started breastfeeding and he was actually latching, so I was really happy,” Dillard said.
The new mother sat in the back of the waiting room, focused on her child.
“Because I was looking at him I didn’t see anyone walking up to me. That officer that came to us with a sheet, she said, ‘Cover up,'" she said. “Before I could say anything she put it up over and Dame unlatched and I tried fixing the sheet and then I was like, ‘I don’t want to cover up.’”
Dillard called the Black Mother’s Breastfeeding Association, a Detroit-based advocacy group.
“I’m curious to know if Children’s Hospital has training so that staff,” Victoria Washington, with the group, said.
The two hope to use the experience as a teachable moment and to help create safer spaces for women trying to feed their babies.