She has since received an apology from the bus company.
A mother in the UK has claimed she was kicked off a bus for refusing to stop breastfeeding her daughter.
Holly Chapman, from Wiltshire, says she began feeding her newborn after she started to cry for a feed once they got on the bus – but was told by the driver to either stop or get off.
“It was such a horrible experience,” the 28-year-old told Tyla. “I was so shocked and didn’t know what to say.”
She left the bus and fed the 19-week-old baby girl at the side of the road while waiting for another one to come along.
Holly, who is a maternity assistant herself, initially didn’t even tell her partner of the incident. It wasn’t until a few days later that her sister convinced her to make a formal complaint.
Though too humiliated to stand up for herself in the moment, Holly is now sharing her story with the hope of making others aware that in the UK, a mother’s right to publicly breastfeed her child is protected by law.
“I tried to brush what happened off, but it impacted me a lot more than I thought,” she said. “I want to encourage other feeding mums to speak up if you are ever confronted and know that you are doing nothing wrong.
“Breastfeeding in public is ok and you are protected by law to feed your baby whenever they need to be fed.”
Swindon’s Bus Company has since issued an apology to the mother-of-two.
