H-E-B apologizes to San Antonio couple over breast-feeding incident

H-E-B has purchased two lots totaling 26 acres near the intersection of Texas 211 and Potranco Road in western Bexar County. H-E-B has purchased two lots totaling 26 acres near the intersection of Texas 211 and Potranco Road in western Bexar County. Photo: San Antonio Express-News /File Photo Photo: San Antonio Express-News /File Photo Image 1 of / 42 Caption Close H-E-B apologizes to San Antonio couple over breast-feeding incident 1 / 42 Back to Gallery

San Antonio grocer H-E-B has apologized to a Devine couple after a store employee told the mother she couldn’t breast-feed her 8-month-old daughter while shopping because H-E-B is a “family-friendly store.”

Vanessa Danna said she, her two daughters and her husband were nearing the end of a shopping trip Sunday at the H-E-B Plus at 1150 N. Loop 1604 when she noticed her 8-month-old daughter was hungry. So she and her family moved to an empty aisle so she could breast-feed.

“I’m very discreet when I feed her,” Danna said. “I’m not really lewd about it. I discreetly took out my breast to feed her on an empty aisle.”

The family continued shopping. Soon, a store manager approached the family in a crowded aisle and told Danna she could not breast-feed while shopping because H-E-B is a “family-friendly store,” Danna said. The employee told Danna to cover her baby or move to a private area, the 30-year-old mother said.

Danna said she had not encountered this type of request from a store employee or any negative comments from other shoppers. Danna breast-fed her first daughter, now 2 years old, and she pointed out that state law allows mothers to breast-feed wherever they are authorized to be.

“Never have we been asked to cover up or go to another room to feed the baby,” Danna said. “That came as such a shock to me.”

Danna said she believed the employee would not allow the family to continue shopping until she complied with her request. Instead, Danna said, she chose to leave the cart full of groceries and shop elsewhere.

“We weren’t going to spend our money where we weren’t welcome to feed our baby,” Danna said.

Frustrated, Danna’s husband, Frank, complained about the incident in a Facebook post that was shared more than 500 times as of Tuesday morning.

Photo: Facebook/Frank Danna A San Antonio couple's Facebook post about a breastfeeding incident...

“We spend a fair bit of our paycheck at H-E-B, and being that H-E-B is so proud of their Texas roots it is the ONLY place we shop,” Frank Danna wrote. “After today, H-E-B will receive a full boycott by my family until we are issued an apology by this company.”

H-E-B spokeswoman Dya Campos said the episode was a “miscommunication” between the family and the employee, who was trying to offer the mother a private space to breast-feed. The San Antonio-based grocer allows mothers to breast-feed while shopping, but it also sets aside private rooms for them, Campos said.

Campos said the San Antonio-based grocer apologized to the Danna family Monday, which the couple confirmed.

“H-E-B has a long-standing policy of supporting mothers who are breast-feeding,” Campos said. “It was a miscommunication, misunderstanding, and we apologize for that. We contact every single customer who writes to us or contacts us or feels like they had a bad experience. H-E-B is known for making it right.”

Some retailers and big-box stores have pushed to accommodate breast-feeding mothers, though sometimes employees don’t seem to get the memo. Last year, Target adopted a policy allowing mothers to breast-feed their children in any area of the store, ABC News reported. But last week, a Target employee in Kyle, outside of Austin, reportedly told a 23-year-old mother to leave after she attempted to feed her child in a changing room and later a bathroom at the employee’s request, news station KVUE reported.

Danna said H-E-B’s director of customer relations and the store’s general manager each called her Monday to apologize, stress that the encounter Sunday was an “isolated incident,” and promise that they would speak to the employee about the situation.

“They wanted to gain our trust back,” Danna said. “We’ve never had any issues with them. We’re going to continue shopping there as long as we feel welcome.”

jfechter@express-news.net