Mom: College won’t let me breastfeed during exams

[fried eggs]

Video: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nbc-news/52262977#52262977

A mom of a 10-month-old baby girl is upset because she was not permitted to breastfeed during a college exam at Florida State College at Jacksonville.

Rebecca Mabrey is an online student, but she still had to go to the campus to take an exam -- and she was turned away at the door because she had her baby and a stroller in tow. The proctor of the test told her she could not have an infant in the classroom during the exam, because she might serve as a disruption to the other students.

That's when Rebecca showed the proctor a copy of Florida's Maternal and Infant Health Care law on breastfeeding -- but she was still told that she would not be permitted to sit for the test.

[Llewlladdwr]

1. I'm sorry, but a classroom during a test is not an appropriate venue for a child.

Having an infant present is an unfair and unnecessary distraction for the other students.

[Rod Walker]

4. Absolutely correct.

[theHandpuppet]

16. Totally agree

Heaven forbid she might have made other arrangements for the short time she needed to take the exam. Having a child doesn't exclude you from having some shred of consideration for others.

[dsc]

2. This reeks of entitlement mentality

Even she admits in the story that the kid would be waking up toward the end of the exam. So everyone else in the room has to deal with a waking infant while trying to take an exam. Just ridiculous.

[QC]

29. Yep. That's exactly my impression as well.

A few years ago, I had a student demand that I reschedule his exam because...get this...he was planning on taking a cruise during exam week.

Pure entitlement, and much more common than most people would guess.

[Butterbean]

3. I might be able to see it if it was an infant that was young enough

that it was still at the age where exclusive breastfeeding was the only/best option. However, 10 months is old enough that the kid can get by for at least a couple of hours without nursing. Unless he has some sort of metabolic condition that necessitates him nursing that frequently at that age (and I actually have a girlfriend who has a daughter with a metabolic condition and she DID have to nurse her that frequently well into her first year because of it), then she's just blowing smoke.

I nursed both of my kids for 2 years each. They both have feeding disorders. I still could have left them for a couple of hours without nursing or eating in order to go take a freaking exam.

[laundry_queen]

22. Same here.

I was a 'militant' breastfeeder when I had my babies and breastfed in terms of years, not months. Yet, when my first was 10 months old, I took a weekend course that required my parents to babysit her and bring her in at lunch to breastfeed. She went 4 hours easily as she was able to eat solids at the time and took a sippy cup. I can't see a test being any longer than that (I just wrote a national exam for my profession and it was 4 hours). I'm all for breastfeeding small infants during class, or even a small infant (6 months or less) during exams, IF prior arrangements have been made for a separate room so as not to distract others - but this is getting a bit much, IMO.

[tammywammy]

5. I'm already a nervous test taker

A baby is a distraction. Agree with the school on this one.

[BainsBane]

6. The reasonable approach is to contact the professor for special

arrangements for the test. A number of students have special testing provisions--special equipment, extra time, etc. . . To just turn up with a baby without discussing it first, however, is not the best way to handle it.

[petronius]

7. IMO, she should have been allowed to take the exam, and if the baby cried or fussed

she could have taken it outside - the lost time would be her own risk to take.

Honestly, the distraction of a crying baby being taken out of the room is not a good excuse to bar someone from the exam; it's not much more annoying - if at all - than other students moving about, the inevitable ass who gets a phone call, the trash truck outside the window, and a host of other irritations. A student that could realistically be distracted by the presence of a baby, to the extent that it meaningfully affected performance, probably ought to be entitled to testing accommodations of their own...

[Llewlladdwr]

8. You have obviously not been around many crying babies.

Comparing an infant's cries to a cell phone is apples and oranges. Humans tend to respond to a baby's cries at an instinctive level that a ringing cell phone doesn't reach.

There are some places where a child's presence just isn't appropriate. This is one.

[petronius]

9. I disagree: a child is fine in the test/class room

as long as s/he doesn't create a distraction. When s/he does, a quick trip out the door is indicated. In this case, the simple solution would be to seat the mother right next to the door, warn her that any time lost in removing a noise-making child is her loss, and move on.

Note that I did not suggest allowing a crying child - or any other distraction - to remain in the room; of course an actual disturbance should be removed. However, neither the mere presence of a child nor the act of breast-feeding would have constituted exclusion-worthy distractions had I been in charge...

[sammytko]

12. When you take one of these tests, you are not allowed to leave the room

If you want to leave, they will not let you return.

And usually you schedule your exam at your convenience. There are all types of test takers in one room.

She probably could have picked a time when the baby would be asleep and not need to feed.

I wonder what class she was taking.

I've taken many on-line courses with the final exam taking place at the school or an approved location - even a library, with the librarian acting as proctor.

[TheMadMonk]

10. Mum removes baby immediately. Examiner collects paper.

Strikes me, the shaedenfreude of know she's not returning* should compensate for a disruption no worse than a clumsy early leaver.

But yes, she's a bloody idiot for bringing the kid along and not making alternative arrangements.


*Just woken and fed, that kid will not be settling.

[fried eggs]

11. That's an interesting perspective...

[SocratesInSpirit]

13. Speaking as a mother currently breastfeeding an eight-month old...

She could have gotten a babysitter. Unless the child was special needs in some way, she should have made arrangements for someone to babysit while she was taking the test. The baby is old enough to be okay for a few hours without mom - this isn't a newborn who needs constant nursing. It's one thing if she was being harassed simply for nursing in public, and quite another to insist that a class examination conforms entirely to her situation.

[sibelian]

14. Well, I kind of have to side with the examining board (if they're the ones responsible) in this case

Naturally she has to feed her kid, but there are other candidates to think about.

Aren't colleges able to set up examining environments for candidates with unusual requirements?

She can't be the first mother that needs to pass an exam.... Never heard of this problem before now...

???

[geek tragedy]

15. It's bad enough we have to deal with screaming babies in airplanes and restaurants.

Like a movie theater, there's zero place for a crying baby in a room full of exam takers.

[lame54]

17. I hope you brought enough for everybody

[WinkyDink]

18. MY take: No student should have anything with them, baby included, that can hide "cheat-sheets."

[NightWatcher]

20. To be fair, there were answers scribbled on the baby's head

[WinkyDink]

21. Haha. AS IF students haven't been creative before. I'm talking about the kid's clothing.

I have ZERO time for this dame.

[craigmatic]

19. It's distracting to others and during exams you need to concentrate. Leave your baby with a sitter.

[HappyMe]

23. Why can't she just get a sitter

while she takes the test.

[Poll_Blind]

24. How fortuitous she would find herself packing a copy of the relevant law at that moment!

Fishy...and I have no hesitation saying it. Also, other test takers deserve to take the tests without any expectation of disruption. Kind of two separate issues, though.

PB

[RedCappedBandit]

35. LOL - Good catch!

But I agree. The other paying students have a right to an an environment free of such disturbances.

[QC]

25. This is why we have "alternative testing arrangements."

Most colleges have a testing center, and most professors are willing to give separate exams for people whose circumstances require it. In twenty-four years of teaching I have worked around surgery, chemo sessions, military orders, cross-country moves, dead and dying relatives, illnesses, child care issues, etc.

This sounds like a really, really extreme case of entitlement, something we are seeing a lot in this age of the precious snowflake.

[PoliticAverse]

26. This doesn't seem to be about breastfeeding, but rather what type of 'things'...

you are allowed to bring into an exam...

[BeyondGeography]

27. Ugh...She compares her situational "issue" with rights accorded people with lifetime disabilities

But what about ME????

[HockeyMom]

28. At 10 months,

that child should be on solid foods, and certainly drinking from a cup. I nursed my own daughter until 20 months. The Mom had to know she had tests coming up. Get a babysitter in advance. IF she really, really needed to nurse, she could have pumped her milk, and the sitter give it to the baby in a bottle, or CUP.

No excuse at that age for milk allergy. My daughter had that, but by 10 months she could drink water, juice, or goat's milk.

[Orrex]

30. They were probably afraid that she'd use crib notes.

[Behind the Aegis]

32. LOL!

[malaise]

34. DUzy

[cali]

31. with all the heavy stuff we've been battling about here, this is a relief

olive garden breast feeding pit bull fight club!

[Ilsa]

37. I was thinking the same thing. Lighter fare

For a change. Otherwise, I was going to hang in The Lounge for the next few weeks.

[malaise]

33. What a thoughtless, entitled self-centered moron

Eff her!

[Ilsa]

36. Sorry, but the world doesn't revolve around you, Madonna & Child.

As a former breastfeeding mom and as a former student, I would say she needs to get a sitter, express some milk, and go take her test.

There are lots of places where it isn't appropriate to nurse, like while operating motor vehicles and airplanes, when performing surgery, etc.

[Sheldon Cooper]

38. Someone who hasn't figured out yet that the world does not revolve around her

and her precious spawn. Grow up and hire a sitter.