UK mom stopped from breastfeeding, lodges police complaint

London, July 15: A British mother of four today lodged a police complaint after a security guard at a busy store physically removed her baby daughter as she breastfed and forced the woman out of the store.

Caroline Starmer posted on the Facebook support group ‘Free to Feed' that she was feeding her hungry nine-month-old daughter in a quiet corner of Leicester's Primark store yesterday when she was approached by a security guard and told to leave.

Starmer further wrote that she tried to explain to the security guard that she was legally entitled to feed her daughter in the store, but the guard was unmoved.

"Just for the security officer to physically remove my daughter from my breast and walk down the store with her, saying if I wanted my daughter, then I was to come and get her," Starmer wrote.

Nursing infant snatched from mother by security @Primark Leicester today, in a desperate attempt to remove them from store. #freetofeed

— Emily Slough (@FreeToFeed) July 13, 2015

@FreeToFeed Hi Emily, we are investigating this urgently.We welcome mums to breastfeed in our stores and we take these claims very seriously

— Primark (@Primark) July 13, 2015

She said she had reported the incident to police and her husband had complained to the assistant manager of the store.

A spokesperson for the retail giant told The Independent: "We wish to make it absolutely clear that mothers are welcome to breastfeed in our stores. We are investigating this incident urgently, and take these claims very seriously."

Primark also responded on Twitter apologising for the incident. Police were investigating the matter, the report said.

PTI