A Fife mum was left incredulous when court officials told her to give her breast-fed baby a bottle so she could still do jury duty.
Aileen Robertson, 39, was cited for jury service when her first-born, Isaac, was only a few weeks old.
She filled in a form asking for an exemption.
However, this week she received a letter to say she was to attend court and when she rang to explain she was breastfeeding her seven-month-old, she was told that was not a reason to miss jury duty because she could “use a bottle”.
After explaining that was not an option, she was told a doctor’s note would be required for an exemption.
Aileen is now awaiting a reply on her request.
“While it’s not the fault of the staff at the court, there is an issue here about making breastfeeding mums jump through hoops in order to do what is best for their child,” Aileen said.
“Breastfeeding is not an illness or medical condition, so why use up precious surgery time getting GPs to write up notes in such circumstances?
“With health services doing everything they can to promote breastfeeding, it does not make sense for the court service to make things more difficult.
“In my case, I do not have the option of expressing and giving him milk in a bottle because he simply won’t take it.
“I understand there is a need to encourage citizens to help the legal process but this should not be at the expense of what is an important public health issue.”
A Scottish Court Service spokesman said Aileen was given incorrect information from a court worker.
He added: “It is not our policy to request a medical certificate to support a request for excusal on the grounds of breastfeeding and we apologise for any suggestion that one is required.
“We simply need an application and the reason a request is being made. If there were any other medical grounds included for seeking an excusal, we would seek supporting documentation.”
He added: “Anyone else wishing to be excused would normally be asked to submit their reasons to the court for consideration and to include any relevant supporting documentation for consideration.
“The sheriff clerk will then consider those applications sympathetically.”’Completely unacceptable’The news was universally condemned by those who support breastfeeding mums.
Anna Burbidge, of the international charitable breastfeeding support organisation La Leche League GB, said the situation was appalling and being told to give a bottle showed a complete lack of understanding.
“For one thing the mother’s health would be put at risk because of the danger of mastitis from not feeding and her milk supply would be disrupted,” she said.
“Many breast-fed babies will not take a bottle and, in addition, will be very distressed in being away from their mothers.
“We would agree that the needs of a baby to be breastfed should always be paramount and that this needs to be made clear.
“Mothers are, in effect, being told they must withhold their babies’ food from them and this would be considered completely unacceptable in any other circumstance.”
Rosemary Dodds, senior policy adviser with the National Childbirth Trust, added: “If a mother decides to breastfeed her baby, the judicial system needs to respect her choice.
“Society needs to do much more to support women in their feeding decisions.”MSPs to take up caseTwo Fife MSPs have pledge to take the breastfeeding issue further.
Dunfermline MSP Cara Hilton said: “It is simply unacceptable that in a ‘progressive’ society, where so much work has been done around promoting the benefits of breastfeeding and encouraging public acceptance of breastfeeding, that a court should dismiss a mother’s request to be exempt from jury duty on the grounds that she ‘can just use a bottle’.”
Mrs Hilton breastfed all three of her children for their first year, soon realising she “had no choice” as none would take a bottle. “Like Aileen, it would have been impossible for me to attend court under these circumstances.
“I think if dismissive attitudes like this still exist in organisations like the court service, then more work needs to be done to ensure mums are not faced with barriers when wishing to give their child the best possible start in life.”
She will now press the Scottish Government.
Meanwhile, Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Claire Baker added: “The health benefits for babies and mothers are well known and public agencies should be doing all they can to support women who make that decision.
“We should be trying to ensure a culture that is comfortable with those needs and is willing to accept the role it plays.”