A new mother was thrown out of a women’s bathing pond by a female lifeguard because her baby was a boy.

Harriet Taylor, 29, and three-month-old Arthur were having a picnic with friends at Kenwood Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Heath, North-West London.

The lifeguard came up and told her to leave because there was a ban on children under eight – and her baby was especially unwelcome because he ‘had a penis’.

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Harriet Taylor was forced to leave the popular bathing by a lifeguard area because her son Arthur is a boy

The guard stood over Miss Taylor – who said she had not seen the sign banning children – as she and her companions packed up, then marched them out.

‘I felt quite upset and embarrassed that she called us out in front of everybody so rudely,’ said Miss Taylor, a research scientist.

‘I can’t think of one occasion since I’ve had Arthur when I’ve been made to feel uncomfortable when out with him or breastfeeding him. I also can’t think of anywhere else I’ve been that would refuse a woman and a breastfeeding child entry.’

Miss Taylor, from Mill Hill, North London, said Arthur was being quiet when the lifeguard came up.

‘She stood over me and, gesturing to Arthur, said, “Children under eight are not allowed here – especially ones with penises”. I was quite upset and shocked. Then she stood over us while we were packing up and escorted us out.

‘The comment she made was so unfair to Arthur as a little baby – he’s not a sexual being.’

The site is owned by the City of London but is run by Kenwood Ladies’ Pond Association, a voluntary group.

A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation who manage Hampstead Heath said that no children under the age of eight are allowed to bathe in the pond, pictured, as the area can be deceptively dangerous and cold

Its website says the pond is supposed to be a ‘quiet, peaceful place for women and girls to bathe, swim and relax’. Miss Taylor, who lives with her partner Stuart Radford, 35, a designer, said the pond should allow new mothers with babies.

‘Kenwood is supposed to be welcoming to women. I’m a breastfeeding mother – I can’t be separated from my son. I understand that they don’t want it to be a child’s playground, but we were just quietly sitting on the grass.’

She was disappointed by the way she was treated during the incident last month.

‘The worst thing was the way the lifeguard spoke to me. I felt that it was not the way to speak to a new mother,’ she said.

A spokesman for the City of London Corporation, which manages Hampstead Heath, said: ‘Up to two children aged between eight and 15 are allowed in the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond in the company of an adult but the wild swimming environment is not suitable for children under the age of eight.