Rachael Bews was on the train to an Amazon warehouse in Dunfermline, Scotland, when she got the call: her 20-week-old baby would not be allowed on site. The head of a marketing firm had told Amazon a week earlier that she needed to bring her child because she was breastfeeding. But the retailer’s policy – no children under six on any fulfilment centre – meant she was barred from the in-person business course she had travelled to attend.
Amazon apologised, saying the site access policy “was not communicated clearly before she travelled”. It called the policy a “long-standing health and safety [rule] that applies to all visitors and employees” and promised to review its communications process. But for Bews, the damage was done. She had boarded the train expecting to take part, only to be turned away.
“Breastfeeding boss Rachael Bews barred from Amazon business course after child banned from site.”
There was a lactation room at the event on Friday, she told the BBC’s The World Tonight, but she had not planned for it – no sterilised bottles or pumping equipment. “Not every breastfed baby would feed from a bottle,” she pointed out. The six-week course offered an online component, which she could still access, but she had missed “the most important things”: the face-to-face connections made over coffee and lunch, the kind of networking that could help her business.
Bews called for better accessibility at events: “All events should really have good consideration to accessibility and inclusivity for all sorts of considerations. It’s a challenging thing becoming a new mum, and being in business is a big part of my identity, so having access to these same opportunities is really important for me and a lot of other working and professional mums out there.”
Amazon’s apology acknowledged the mistake but left Bews without the in-person experience she had hoped for. The NHS advises women returning to work who want to breastfeed to tell their employer before their first day back, adding: “The answer is yes, it’s completely possible and many women do it.” But for Bews, the door to that warehouse – and the opportunities inside – stayed closed.