Calgary moms win breastfeeding battle

CALGARY, Alberta, April 6 (UPI) -- It turns out Calgary mothers can breastfeed their children in or around public pools after all, a leader of Canadian lactating women says.

The mothers had been prepared to stage a protest but canceled it after meeting last weekend with city staff who clarified the city's policy, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Monday.

The kerfuffle over public lactation started when lifeguards at Calgary's Killarney pool had asked mothers to breastfeed only in the changing room. Organizer Gemma Kelsall said city staff determined the lifeguards had misunderstood the city policy allowing mothers to breastfeed in or out of city pools.

City spokeswoman Heather Bruce said it was just a matter of the pool staff not having the facts about the policy.

"The city of Calgary does apologize if there's been a misunderstanding and we're very happy with the outcome," she said.

The women may have won and have "got a lot of support and love," Kelsall said, but noted she found out public breastfeeding isn't popular with everyone.

"I have received over a 100 pieces of hate mail in the last two days via my Facebook (group)," she said. "I've been looking at the CBC Web site and there's over 800 comments this morning, most of them saying we're wrong we're, child abusers, we're disgusting."