‘Milk would get onto the art’: Breastfeeding mum stopped by art gallery security
With her newborn baby in her arms, a Newcastle mother’s trip to an art gallery ended in shock as the contentious issue of public breastfeeding arose once again.
Christie Rea, 37 was with her young family at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra when she sat down to feed her three-month-old daughter.
Surrounded by paintings of naked women, the irony was not lost on the mother-of-four when a security guard confronted her, saying “there is a parent room downstairs for this sort of thing”.
Short on time, Mrs Rea told the Daily Mail that her efforts to explain her predicament fell on deaf ears.
“I told him that we only have a short time here [the gallery] and I didn't want to leave my husband or the girls to sit in a room away from them,” she said.
“My eldest daughter who's eight actually pointed out that there was a sculpture of a breastfeeding woman in the same room.”
Eventually appeasing the security guard with the compromise that she cover herself in a wrap, Mrs Rea made her way to the front desk to clarify their rules on breastfeeding.
"They told me it concerned their food and beverage policy, they were concerned the milk would get onto the art," Ms Rea said.
Following the December 19 encounter, the national gallery reached out to the mother and said the security guard did not represent its values.
The deputy director of the gallery ensured Mrs Rea that their staff were now being clarified on the rules and regulations surrounding breastfeeding mothers to prevent any further confusion.
