This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

FARMINGTON — Ana Davis' efforts to get a bit of privacy while breastfeeding her 1-month-old daughter, Mia, apparently ended up offending someone.

She said on April 13 she was inside the women's restroom at a Nordstrom Rack store. "I went to the restroom and found an open chair," Davis explained. "Several people walked in and out of the restroom during that time, and within a few minutes, we were approached by a Nordstrom employee that said a complaint had been made."

Davis said the employee asked her to leave the bathroom and finish feeding her baby in a fitting room.

"It was a little embarrassing at first," Davis said. "I didn't feel like I did anything wrong by nursing."

Rather than putting up a fight, Davis said she complied and moved. "The biggest surprise is that our 1-month-old had to stop feeding so that somebody could go to the restroom," she said.

Upon later hearing about the incident, Davis's husband, Joel Davis, reached out to Nordstrom, both at corporate and local levels.

"It provokes the question, 'Why did it make sense to ask a nursing mother to leave the privacy of a bathroom?'" Joel Davis said. "Why did that make more sense than to explain well, 'It is a bathroom?'"

Davis later received an email apology from the store manager, stating that employees there would be better educated on breastfeeding laws in the future. A written response to KSL from a Nordstrom spokesperson stated:

"We were so disappointed to hear Mrs. Davis say this was her experience when she visited our store, and we've followed up directly with her and her husband to apologize. We want every customer to feel comfortable while they’re shopping with us, particularly nursing mothers. Though we’re always happy to offer a fitting room if a mom is looking for additional privacy, our employees should never ask a nursing mom to move. We've looked into this and confirmed each of our employees knows that mothers are able to nurse in our store wherever they're most comfortable."

Still, the Davises say they're more concerned that some people are uncomfortable with breastfeeding than they are with how a store employee handled the situation.

"I'm floored," Joel Davis said.

×

Photos