Giving Up the Teet

Have you heard about this one?

Rosie Stamp, 32, a freelance video producer, made the journey hours after arriving in New York when she phoned home and heard year-old Betsy crying in hunger.

"I had no choice. She just wouldn't take the bottle," explained Stamp, who had expressed breast milk before leaving on the planned five-day trip for a crucial business appointment.

She said Betsy was in the habit of drinking water from bottles, so she and her partner, therapist Nicholas Bolton, 49, assumed the baby would take the expressed milk.

But "she of course knew breast was best," said Stamp, a strong believer in breastfeeding until babies are 2. The trip was the first time she had left her baby, who is now 16 months old.

{...}The incident occurred in January, but Stamp - now pregnant with her second child - began a battle with British Airways and her travel insurers for a refund for her emergency flight.

She had paid $760 for her first round-trip ticket and had to fork over $800 for the early flight home. She then paid another $900 for her second trip to New York. She also spent almost $600 on international cell-phone calls.

"For months I've been trying to get BA to have compassion," said Stamp, who argued that Betsy's need to breastfeed was a medical emergency.{...}

Yes. That's right. It's British Airways responsibility, according to this woman, to pay for her airfare because the baby wouldn't drink pumped milk. Because she's a mother. Her child was HUNGRY and SHE was the only one who could stop her baby from starving to death! It apparently never occurred to this mother that since she was going out of town for an extended period of time, and the baby was a year old, that perhaps, just perhaps, this would have been a good time to wean the kid.

Never mind that a pediatrician probably could have told the father how to solve the problem at minimal expense.

British Airways needs to have compassion. Because this was a medical emergency.

I can only hope that BA holds firm and says GO TO HELL in a resounding voice. I can't imagine why they would cave. This isn't about discriminating against mothers who breastfeed. This is about not picking up the tab that resulted from a woman's irresponsible behavior, who then, doing nothing to help her own credibility, decided to climb up on the cross of breastfeeding martyrdom to get her ticket paid for. That's bullshit.

And no, of course, I have never breastfed a baby. I haven't had kids, hence I haven't lactated yet. Duh. But I know plenty of people who have, and believe you me it never would have occurred to them to cross a fucking ocean because their baby was being picky in their eating habits. What's the matter with that father that after ten hours, he demanded she come home instead of calling the doctor or his mother or someone who knew what they were doing?

This is ridiculous. Far be it from me to point out that this woman is making things harder for the average woman when she tries to feed her child and some puritan takes offense a a tit hanging out in---gasp!---public.

Oy.

{Hat Tip: Michele, who also has some worthwhile things to say about this.}

Posted by Kathy at May 7, 2005 10:42 AM