YMCA of Lafayette Indiana

I’m extremely disappointed with how I was treated at this YMCA. As a mother of two young children, I expect a family-friendly environment where I can care for my kids without being singled out or shamed. While at the pool supervising my 5-year-old, my 1-year-old became fussy, so I sat at the edge of the pool to breastfeed him — exactly where I needed to be to safely watch my daughter, as required by the YMCA’s own rules. A lifeguard approached me and told me I wasn’t allowed to breastfeed there because of “health hazards,” and that I had to get out of the pool. Let’s be clear: breastfeeding is protected by law in public spaces, including swimming pools. Breast milk is not a health hazard, and I was doing absolutely nothing wrong. I felt publicly embarrassed for trying to meet the basic needs of my baby and keep both of my children safe in a challenging moment. It’s unacceptable that staff are not properly trained on breastfeeding rights. No parent should be put in the position of choosing between comforting their baby and following pool safety rules for their other child. The YMCA should do better. I hope this serves as a wake-up call to provide proper education to staff so that breastfeeding mothers are respected, not harassed or shamed. Families deserve better than this.

Been coming here for years now. It's pretty great. The staff is lovely. I mostly use the fitness area upstairs. It's generally really clean and smells nice. The only negative thing that comes to mind is the limited attachments for the gym area, and how jump ropes and such are tucked away.

My 7-year-old daughter at the time was assaulted by staff at the old Y (he was found guilty), and the Y failed to vet staff thoroughly, had no working cameras(weren’t working well enough!) and never apologized—one manager didn’t even believed it happened which is sick! Now I see my review was taken down, but parents deserve to know before trusting their kids here. Don’t care how it makes your establishment look, my child and I don’t appreciate having to have a traumatic memory from a horrible incident like that! You don’t get to just sweep that under the rug because it doesn’t fit a certain image! I had been going for 5 years prior just fine, knew most everyone without any issue. The Y brings in enough money/donations that investing in proper staff, vetting them, and having camera systems in place should have been top priority even at the old Y. Lack of care caused this to happen! Take my review down again, I’ll put it right back up!