Heather Vaughan told to stop breastfeeding at National Museum of the Royal Navy

A MOTHER was reduced to tears when staff at a museum ordered her to stop breastfeeding in its creche, telling her, “we don’t do that here”.

Heather Vaughan was breastfeeding her baby daughter Lydia in the National Museum of the R

A MOTHER was reduced to tears when staff at a naval museum ordered her to stop breastfeeding in its creche, telling her, “we don’t do that here”.

Heather Vaughan, 29, was feeding her nine-week-old daughter Lydia in the National Museum of the Royal Navy when a male member of staff told her to stop. The mother of two said she felt victimised and humiliated at the museum in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

Yesterday bosses apologised and said it had simply been an “error of judgment”. Mrs Vaughan, who had been visiting with husband Daniel, son Josh and baby Lydia, said: ‘The four of us were in the museum and I took my daughter to the creche area to breastfeed her. While I was doing that, a male staff member came up to me, pointed his finger and said “We don’t do that here”.

“I stopped and asked him what he said because I thought I had misheard him, but he repeated it again and said it really aggressively. I told him I was feeding my child but he told me I would have to do it in the baby toilet.

“Another mum with her family in the creche told the man to leave me alone, and eventually he tutted, turned on his heels and left.

“I was shocked and sat there in humiliated silence.” Mrs Vaughan, from Whiteley in Hampshire, added: “As soon as I could, I bundled Lydia up, grabbed the buggy and left to find my husband. Once I was out of the building, I burst into tears. As we walked away and I told my husband what had happened, I couldn’t stop crying.

“I felt so emotional at being caught off guard when I was simply being a good mother. The whole episode shattered my confidence.”

Museum director general Dominic Tweddle apologised for the mistake, saying the staff member had become confused.

He said: “We’re very sorry to Mrs Vaughan for this mistake and error in judgment from one of our team.

“Our member of staff became confused and is deeply and sincerely sorry for his comments and reactions. This incident is not representative of him or our organisations and we all regret the distress caused.

“The museum and dockyard take this issue very seriously. We are committed to putting in place improved procedures and staff training to ensure an incident such as this will never happen in the future.’ Campaigners said incidents such as this could stop women from going out, or make them give up breastfeeding early.

Lactation expert Lynn Timms, who runs Breastfeeding Matters which offers support to mothers, said people needed to be more accepting.

She added: “We all know mums need to go out and about and they should feel comfortable feeding their baby. Incidents such as this might cause mums to stop breastfeeding or they might avoid going out.”