Breastfeeding Mom Shamed in the 1 Place She Least Expected It: Church

Whenever and wherever Annie Peguero's baby is hungry, this new mom feeds her child — without a cover — and doesn't feel like she should have to apologize for it.

Recently, 19-month-old Autumn was hungry while they were at church, and the Virginia mom was approached multiple times about her decision to breastfeed in public. Annie explained to The Washington Post that she and her family had only recently started attending Springfield's Summit Church and were drawn to its sense of community. However, when she sat on a bench outside of the kids' room to nurse her fussy baby before dropping Autumn off, she saw another side to the members that didn't make her feel at all welcomed.

"Right away the church workers started freaking out and waving their hands around," Annie said in a Facebook Live video she recorded after the incident. "They started to cover up Autumn with a fleece blanket . . . Very uncomfortable for me as I'm trying to breastfeed my baby to have this stranger coming at me with this blanket, covering her up and touching my baby."

A bit later, Annie was summoned to the nursery because Autumn was hungry again. She was enjoying the sermon so she returned to the sanctuary to feed her. Even though members told her she should go into a baby room if she wanted to nurse so that men and other newcomers wouldn't feel uncomfortable, this mom held her ground.

"I never leave to go anywhere to feed my baby. I feel that it's important to feed her wherever and whenever and give her milk," Annie said. "I was enjoying the message — it was a fabulous message — and I so love going to church there but I'll never step foot in that church again. And it makes me really sad . . . But I have to stand up for breastfeeding moms and I have to stand up for my baby and my rights as a mother."