No eating good in the neighborhood if your a nursling! Unless of course you ave a blanket over your head!
An Applebees restaurant repeatedly showed ignorance at its finest when dealing with a breastfeeding mother, this is the mom's story:
Kentucky mother promotes breast-feeding after confrontation
LEXINGTON, Ky. --A Lexington mother is launching a campaign promoting breast-feeding after a recent confrontation over nursing her infant at a local Applebee's restaurant.
"On a large scale ... I want breast-feeding to be accepted," Brooke Ryan, 34, told the Lexington Herald-Leader.
As part of her campaign, Ryan is organizing a "Nurse Out" on Sept. 8 with posters and breast-feeding outside the Applebee's in Lexington where she was confronted.
On June 14, Ryan sat down for lunch with her kids. Ryan said she picked a booth in the back of the restaurant away from other customers and discreetly nursed her 7-month-old son, Michael, when he got hungry.
A waitress asked Ryan to cover up with a blanket, though Ryan says it was too hot to carry one. After the waitress repeated her request, Ryan asked to see the manager and handed him a copy of the 2006 Kentucky law prohibiting interference with mothers breast-feeding in public.
Thirty-nine states, including Kentucky, allow women to breast-feed in any public or private location.
Ryan says she was told by the manager that he was aware of the law, but that customers were complaining about indecent exposure. He too asked her to cover up with a blanket.
Ryan left as her food came to nurse her baby in the car.
Her lawyer sent two letters to Thomas and King, the company that operates Applebee's in central Kentucky. A company attorney responded that the chain would consider keeping blankets in the restaurant so that breast-feeding women could cover themselves.
"That's like telling Rosa Parks she still had to sit in the back of the bus, but we'll give her a blanket to make her more comfortable," Ryan said.
Thomas and King President Mike Scanlon told the newspaper that he didn't know about the incident, though he said Applebee's had no policy against breast-feeding.
"It is perfectly legal to breast-feed in public and we support that," Scanlon said. "I'm not sure the manager said cover the baby's head, I think he said cover yourself modestly. This was by no means intended as interference, but a request to do it modestly, which I believe is an appropriate response."
Ryan says that as an experienced breast-feeder, she is extremely modest, and, in that instance, made sure that she was facing into the corner.
"Some women think it's fine to cover up with a blanket, but a woman shouldn't be forced to," said her husband, Michael Ryan.
State Sen. Tom Buford, R-Nicholasville, who sponsored the breast-feeding protection bill, agrees.
"She was not treated right under the new law," he said. "There should have been no comment made to her at all; the restaurant overstepped its boundaries."
Ryan also is asking for a public apology from Applebee's and training for its employees about the rights of breast-feeding mothers.
"I'm not trying to be provocative," she said. "I want to teach."
Lactivists have organized a national nurse in at applebees on September 8th 2007 throughout the country. The nurse in will serve as a peaceful protest that will hopefully result in an educational awareness regarding public breastfeeding
LINK TO NATIONAL APPLEBEE'S PROTEST
Last but not least I bring you the article I have given the "uneducated, ignorant, asshat award":
FOR CODDLED TOTS, TAPS NEVER RUN DRY
By MANDY STADTMILLER
C-O-D-D-L-E-D: Gwen Stefani still nurses her 15-month-old son.I love when stars breast feed their children, it's really entertaining...
posted by nyClick here to commentAugust 23, 2007 -- ‘ONE of my friends’ sons pulled on his mother’s skirt at a party with friends while she was in mid-conversation, pointed at her breast and said, ‘Milk, mama, I want milk,’ ” recalls Darran, a 37-year-old in Manhattan.
“Another friend of a friend breastfed her daughter until the age of 6,” he continues. “No joke!”
We’re not laughing. These little New Yorkers are only part of what some consider overcoddling - Peter Pan syndrome in embryo. Gwen Stefani just revealed that she’s still nursing her 15-month-old son, Kingston, and Kate Hudson is regularly snapped wheeling around her tyke, Ryder, in a stroller. He’s almost 4 years old.
When are these children going to grow up?
“I was at a Gristede’s in Midtown,” reports Steve, 34, from Manhattan. “There was a lady with an older toddler in a stroller shopping. The kid was clutching his ‘woobie,’ sucking on a pacifier. Then he got up from the stroller, the woman placed her shopping bags into it, and the kid pushed the stroller out of the store.”
Not everyone, however, gets so worked up about it, pointing out that the longer you breastfeed, the better it may be for the child - and strollers can keep kids safe from cars, bikes and other urban dangers.
“It’s unfair to presume that mothers who breastfeed for extended periods of time are ‘coddling,’ ” says Jacqueline, 30, from Brooklyn. “For one thing, the American Academy of Pediatrics actually recommends breastfeeding for two years, if possible. As for Kate Hudson, even a big child’s legs are lot shorter than an adult’s. Since when does early childhood have to be boot camp?”
We’re not looking to draft the little ones just yet, but surely a bit of self-reliance is a good thing? Krissy, a 26-year-old nanny in Brooklyn Heights, once had a 6-year-old approach her with, “Wipe my butt,” and then followed this request with: “I like it better when someone does it for me.”
Of course, it does help to have a sense of humor.
“In our circle of friends with kids, the general rule is that if your toddler can say the word ‘breast,’ they are too old to be breastfed,” says Jim, 39, of Manhattan. “That rule has been overridden by one of my male friends. At a party recently, he revealed that this strategy is a win-win for all, since the kid gets extra vitamin D and he gets double-D’s.”
Overall, advises iVillage parenting expert Michele Borba, “There’s a real difference between mothering and smothering.
“Follow the commandment: Never do for your child what the child can do for him- or herself. Because then you are robbing the child of the ‘I can do it’ feeling.”
Not to mention creeping out the rest of us.
This is what I sent to the editor:
To whom it May Concern:
I am sure this will not be the only letter you receive regarding this, but I just want to express my disappointment in the article, FOR CODDLED TOTS, TAPS NEVER RUN DRY, By MANDY STADTMILLER.
On a day when any article you print about breastfeeding should have been on the fact that yesterday, Elliot Spitzer signed into law legislation protecting the rights of mothers in the workplace, instead it is an article riddled with passive aggressive humor at mothers who choose to breastfeed beyond what our society sees as a normal age.
I would like to pint out that this new law protects a mother for three years after she gives birth, so then they must have taken into consideration the benefits of extended breastfeeding.
I have heard this statement so many times by people who like to think they are funny, the statement along the lines that once a baby can say breasts, its time to wean, does not make it so. First off, due to the fact that numerous reliable studies have shown that breastfed children have higher IQ's, we must take into consideration that they may speak sooner than others. So we should wean them because they are smart?
Also the person who is uncomfortable with seeing the natural process of a woman breastfeeding her child should remove himself or herself the situation. Then maybe look within to identify what issues they have that something so trivial and natural would cause them such angst.
I have heard nothing back from the editor, but I did send a copy of my letter to the author of the article, Mandy Stadtmiller, this was her response:
Thanks, Heather - appreciate you taking the time to write.
Best,
Mandy
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