NT Mum outraged after being charged $3.50 for a cup of hot water for her baby’s bottle

“I told them they should be ashamed of themselves," the NT mum shares. "I was only using the water to heat up the bottle. We didn’t even drink it.” 

As a new mum, Jessica does whatever she has to do in order to keep her four-month-old son, Brate, happy, warm and fed.

Recently, however, the 39-year-old, from a remote community near Uluru, was shocked at just how much it cost in order to access a simple convenience for her baby boy.

While on holiday in Melbourne with husband, Shannon, Jessica was thrilled to be taking their then two-month-old son to his first AFL game, to see the Gold Coast Suns in action at the MCG in March.

When she arrived at the stadium, Brate was hungry, so the mix-feeding mum got out a bottle of formula, only to realise she had forgotten her thermos of water in the hotel room on the way out.

With the gates to the stadium not open yet, Jessica came up with the next-best solution.

“There were a few food vans open outside the gates, so I chose a coffee one that I thought would happily give me a cup of hot water so I could sit the bottle in it to warm it up,” she tells Kidspot.

“I didn’t even need the water for the formula, it was just to be used for heat. If the gates were open, I would have just tried to find a microwave.”

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Mum was shocked when she was charged for hot water to fill a baby bottle. Image: Supplied

Mum shocked after being charged $3.50

After ordering the cup of boiled water, Jessica’s jaw dropped.  “I got told it would be $3.50,” she says.

“I got such a shock. I said, ‘Are you serious? You’re charging me $3.50 for a cup of hot water?’ I told them they should be ashamed of themselves. He just went silent and didn’t look at me after that. There was no explanation. I needed the water so I just paid and walked away. There wasn’t much else I could do. Brate was in the carrier crying and screaming because he was hungry, so I was already stressed trying to get his bottle done in a hurry.”

The mum-of-one, who manages a small supermarket and has worked in cafes previously, believes the price was unjustified. 

RELATED: Mum slams ‘bogan’ parents for entitled act at Aussie cafe

“I work in retail and I know how much things cost and I would never charge someone for hot water,” she says.

“I know the cost of living is rising, but $3.50 for a small amount of water in a cup that would have cost 5 cents is extreme. I think it’s greedy. I would understand paying 50 cents, or even a dollar but not $3.50. After it happened, I went back to my husband and family, and they couldn’t believe it either.”

RELATED: ‘I couldn’t believe it!’ Disbelief at cafe’s sneaky fee

Bubs at the game with the big kids. Image: Supplied

What happened to common decency in cafes? 

Jessica says the incident reflects a lack of common decency for those in difficult situations like this.

“I’d like to see more empathy for parents,” she says.

“We already have enough on our plates without having to deal with things like this.”

One thing is for sure, however. The experience made the busy mum all the more diligent in remembering the thermos in her baby bag so that she’s not forced to pay for a cup of hot water anytime in the near future.

“I’m well prepared every time I leave the house now.”

Originally published as NT Mum outraged after being charged $3.50 for a cup of hot water for her baby’s bottle