A NEW mum feels like she 'can't feed her baby in public' after a Pret staff member told her to breastfeed her baby 'discreetly' and to 'cover up'.

Reading mum Emma O'Reilly was with her family in Reading town centre on Tuesday, July 27, when she needed to breastfeed her baby daughter Daisy.

She decided to stop inside Pret in Broad Street as she felt uncomfortable breastfeeding in a restaurant.

Emma and her partner Joe paid for their food and parked the pram next to a table, but then she was followed by a member of staff who told her if she needed to feed Daisy she'd have to "cover up and do it discreetly".

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The 24-year-old said: "We have to take our babies everywhere. If it needs feeding, it needs feeding and you can't help it. If someone was struggling mentally they might decide to end their breastfeeding journey as that can really hurt.

"I don't agree with boycotting Pret but I think there needs to be more awareness and staff need to be made aware of better equality policies with regards to breastfeeding mums.

Reading Chronicle:

"After what happened I don't want to do it anymore, to be honest. People need to be more conscious of it, it's not disgusting, it's not sexualised. The nipple is firmly in the babies mouth. There just needs to be more understanding."

She shared her story on a local Facebook group to make other new mum's aware of how she was treated when wanting to breastfeed inside Pret

Emma also posted on her Instagram story to raise awareness of how breastfeeding mums can feel uncomfortable in public.

She said: "To a new mum, who is still very nervous about breastfeeding in public anyway, this broke me. I was furious but there wasn't anything I could do as Daisy needed me there and then. There was a real mixture of emotions whilst feeding. There was some tears fought back and a lot of confusion/anger.

"It's hard enough getting out of the house with a baby, both practically and emotionally, this is just another obstacle that really shouldn't be there, we shouldn't have to worry about how strangers will react to us feeding, there should be no reaction."

Pret explained that they let women breastfeed in their shops and have no policies on this to say others.

Reading Chronicle:

A Pret a Manger spokesman said: “Women are absolutely free to breastfeed in our shops should they wish to. We have no special policy on this that would say otherwise.

"We’re so sorry for causing any confusion or unintended disrespect. We’ve apologised to the customer and are reminding our teams of our stance to avoid this happening again in the future.”