Prisma apologises after mother asked to hide while breastfeeding

A supermarket employee asked a mother to move away from public view while she was breastfeeding her one-month-old baby at a Prisma store in Kempele, Yle reports. The store has acknowledged the mistake and apologised.

Sofia Sevill was breastfeeding in a quiet corner of the store’s children’s products department during a grocery trip on Tuesday when an older female employee told her to move to a fitting room and draw the curtain.

Sevill said the employee also asked questions about the baby and offered unsolicited advice.

“She did not say hello. She just came very close and said that there is a fitting room over there, go there and draw the curtain,” Sevill said. “I felt like crying and wondered what to do while the baby was eating at the same time.”

The employee stopped questioning her and began stocking shelves. Sevill left the store confused and continued breastfeeding in her car.

Later that afternoon, she described the incident in a post on the social media platform Threads. She received support and read accounts of similar experiences, but some comments criticised breastfeeding in public.

“There were sadly many people who thought it was somehow indecent, obscene or disgusting,” Sevill said.

Store admits mistake and apologises

Juha-Pekka Mäkelä, manager of the Kempele Prisma, said he spoke with both the employee and Sevill about the incident on Wednesday.

“We admit the mistake and hold up our hands. We will move forward from this,” Mäkelä said.

He said the accounts given by the two parties were consistent and that the employee had not intended to offend Sevill.

Mäkelä called Sevill to apologise on behalf of the store and the employee. Sevill said she received a heartfelt apology and accepted it.

Prisma employees have been informed about the incident and instructed on how to handle breastfeeding situations. The matter may also be discussed at a higher level within the Arina retail group, Mäkelä said.

According to Mäkelä, employees at the store have commonly recommended fitting rooms to breastfeeding mothers. However, there are no areas in the store where breastfeeding is prohibited.

“There could be some hygiene-related issues, but off the top of my head I cannot think of what those areas would be,” he said.

Mäkelä denied that the store wanted breastfeeding mothers to be hidden from view. He said situations arose quickly and that parents responded in the way they considered best for the child and the situation.

He said the store could in future provide more spaces where breastfeeding would be easy and comfortable.

Breastfeeding attitudes generally positive

After the incident and the reactions she read online, Sevill said it was important to discuss breastfeeding as a natural activity, including in public places.

She said friends had told her that criticism of breastfeeding in public during a sensitive period could cause them to stop breastfeeding altogether or avoid going out with their babies.

Mäkelä described Tuesday’s encounter as an isolated incident. Imetyksen tuki, an organisation offering peer support for breastfeeding in Finland, also considers such cases isolated.

“Attitudes have not changed. Breastfeeding is generally tolerated quite well in public places,” said Niina Pöyhönen, an expert at the organisation.

Some participants in the Threads discussion said they were already considering changing retail groups because of the incident in Kempele.

Mäkelä said breastfeeding was allowed at the Kempele Prisma and at other Arina stores.

The incident at the Prisma located in Kempele’s Zeppeliini was first reported by Kaleva.