Mother breastfeeding hungry newborn at McDonald's abused, publicly shamed by group of teens: 'That's disgusting'
A new mother has been publicly shamed for breastfeeding her newborn child while in a McDonald's.
Sharna Weiske was at a McDonald's at Hervey Bay, a coastal city in Queensland, Australia, when her newborn baby Elouise started to cry.
Weiske started to feed her baby in order to try and calm her down.
However, a group of teenagers started to shout cruel comments like "that's disgusting" at the new mom who says she was "completely covered" at the time.
Weiske had been enjoying lunch with her family and revealed that it was only the second time that she had attempted to breastfeed her baby in public.
The only other time that she had breastfed her daughter, she recalled people being very supportive and nice and giving her the space she needed.
As reported by the Courier-Mail, she shared, "It's my second time feeding out in public and I've got some rude comments already."
She also added that she was very disappointed to see a group of young women poking fun at a mother feeding her baby. "They are just a bit immature," she added before saying that there need to be more educational programs at school for children and teenagers to understand that breastfeeding is completely normal.
Weiske said breastfeeding has been difficult for her, and the rude and insensitive comments only made the situation worse. "It's a lot more challenging than people realize," she revealed.
Breastfeeding advocate Elizabeth Pohlmann spoke of the stigma attached to breastfeeding in public and shared that it needs to be addressed. "It's legal to breastfeed anywhere you want—we're not doing it to be an exhibitionist, it's literally to feed a baby," she revealed.
She added that it could be very intimidating for a new mother to breastfeed in public given the negative reactions they sometimes get.
A McDonald's spokesman referred to the incident and said, "We pride ourselves on being family-friendly and mothers are welcome to breastfeed in our restaurants."