According to Castro, her son was watching cartoons on his tablet from the stroller and only cried when he got hungry — which she quickly fixed by breastfeeding him. “He wasn’t running around and being a distraction,” she tells CafeMom. “Some women in the salon thought he was adorable and even told me he was so well behaved and they held him and played with him. He didn’t cry much because whenever he became fussy, I would breastfeed.” Castro tells CafeMom that other women in the salon who overheard the conversation later told her that the owner was complaining about her crying baby and her breastfeeding in the salon. Her stylist then discreetly pulled her to the side, to try avoiding a bigger scene, and let her know that she had just been fired and had to pack up her things on the spot so she couldn’t complete her style. “I was completely appalled with the attitude of the owner Marmar Hooshmand to out right pull the stylist aside in order to reprimand her because I was there with my 8-month-old and breastfeeding,” she wrote. “I’m sorry Janessa that you were fired but I’m proud of you and appreciate you standing up for us mothers. It’s not easy breastfeeding and sometimes having to do it in public is embarrassing as well as ones baby crying even for a moment. To be shamed in this way was not OK.” “I did not know where to stick myself when Janessa couldn’t finish my style because she had to pack her belonging because my son was apparently not welcomed nor was his breastfeeding mama,” she wrote. “Not OK Marmar Hooshmand.” Castro regrets not saying more at the time but is speaking up now to let the owner know it isn’t acceptable to treat moms or her employees that way. “I don’t like injustice and I feel it’s not fair what happened to the stylist,” she says. “Breastfeeding is natural and should not have been an issue in this case or any, and if the owner does have a problem with children being there, she should make her salon an adult only facility and this would have never happened.” She also hopes this raises awareness for what nursing moms go through and that no matter where they are, they’re constantly judged. “I hope those that read this somehow see that breastfeeding is a natural thing but it’s hard. I feel so bad sometimes when my son is hungry and I have to run to a bathroom or my car to feed him because I don’t want to offend anyone,” she says. “Society expects us to be considerate of those around and I try to be. I guess since I was surrounded with other women and moms, I somehow felt like I was in a ‘safe’ place.”
