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King Sheep
Forum Thread
Mom pushes Applebee's on breast-feeding
August 30, 2007 at
10:13 AM
Original article from Lexington Herald Leader [kentucky.com]
Mom pushes Applebee's on breast-feeding
WANTS CHANGE IN POLICY AFTER BEING TOLD TO COVER HERSELF
By Linda B. Blackford
[email protected]
Brooke Ryan nursed her 10-month-old son, Michael, at her home. She says her goal is to teach, not to be provocative. Photo by David Stephenson | Staff
David Stephenson | Staff
Brooke Ryan nursed her 10-month-old son, Michael, at her home. She says her goal is to teach, not to be provocative. Photo by David Stephenson | Staff
In June, Brooke Ryan walked into a Nicholasville Road Applebee's restaurant to celebrate an anniversary lunch with her children.
She walked out humiliated, in tears and without the lunch.
But the incident over breast-feeding her 7-month-old son at Applebee's has spurred the soft-spoken 34-year-old to start a public awareness campaign on the rights of breast-feeding women in Kentucky.
"On a small scale, I want Applebee's to change its policy," Ryan said. "On a large scale ... I want breast-feeding to be accepted."
The dispute with Applebee's began June 14. Ryan chose a booth in the back of the restaurant away from other customers. When her baby, Michael, got hungry, she began to nurse him discreetly, she said.
But a waitress came over and said that if she wanted to breast-feed, she had to cover the baby with a blanket. Ryan said it was so hot that she didn't have a blanket. The waitress then repeated her request. Ryan said she then asked to see the manager and handed him a copy of the 2006 Kentucky law that prohibits interference with a woman breast-feeding her baby in public.
The manager said he knew about the law but a customer had complained about indecent exposure, so she had to cover the baby with a blanket.
Ryan left as her food came, to nurse her baby in the car.
Her lawyer wrote a letter to Thomas & King, the company that operates Applebee's in Central Kentucky. They got no response. After a second letter, a Thomas & King lawyer said the restaurant 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.
When contacted yesterday, Mike Scanlon, president of Thomas & King, said he didn't know about the incident. However, he called the Herald-Leader back to say that 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.
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. There's no way they can explain their way out of this."
Thirty-nine states, including Kentucky, allow women to breast-feed in any public or private location.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breast-feeding for about the first six months and support for breast-feeding for the first year and beyond as long as mutually desired by mother and child. But according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 11 percent of mothers meet the six-month mark. Thirty percent breast-feed exclusively for the first three months. Kentucky's rates are 7.5 percent and 25 percent, respectively, according to a 2007 report.
Scanlon suggested that Ryan had an "agenda."
"I note with interest that she had a copy of the statute with her," he said. "I'm glad to let this become a matter that we can all learn from."
But if all Ryan wanted going into Applebee's was an anniversary lunch, she may indeed have an agenda now.
August is World Breast-feeding Awareness Month, and Ryan has organized two related public events:
• A "Nurse-In" at the children's play area at Fayette Mall from 1-3 p.m. Saturday. Ryan says the mall is not a target, but has a place for kids to play.
• From noon to 2 p.m. Sept. 8, she is holding a "Nurse Out" with posters and breast-feeding in front of the Applebee's on Nicholasville Road.
She's also asking for a public apology from Applebee's and training for its employees about the rights of breast-feeding mothers. Some day, she says, she would like to see the international breast-feeding symbol of a mother and child in every restaurant that supports the practice.
"I'm not trying to be provocative," she said. "I want to teach."
Read comments from Kentucky.com [prospero.com]
Read comments from Fark.com [fark.com]
Reach Linda Blackford at (859) 231-1359 or [email protected].
EDIT: Added Polling Goodness!
Mom pushes Applebee's on breast-feeding
WANTS CHANGE IN POLICY AFTER BEING TOLD TO COVER HERSELF
By Linda B. Blackford
[email protected]
Brooke Ryan nursed her 10-month-old son, Michael, at her home. She says her goal is to teach, not to be provocative. Photo by David Stephenson | Staff
David Stephenson | Staff
Brooke Ryan nursed her 10-month-old son, Michael, at her home. She says her goal is to teach, not to be provocative. Photo by David Stephenson | Staff
In June, Brooke Ryan walked into a Nicholasville Road Applebee's restaurant to celebrate an anniversary lunch with her children.
She walked out humiliated, in tears and without the lunch.
But the incident over breast-feeding her 7-month-old son at Applebee's has spurred the soft-spoken 34-year-old to start a public awareness campaign on the rights of breast-feeding women in Kentucky.
"On a small scale, I want Applebee's to change its policy," Ryan said. "On a large scale ... I want breast-feeding to be accepted."
The dispute with Applebee's began June 14. Ryan chose a booth in the back of the restaurant away from other customers. When her baby, Michael, got hungry, she began to nurse him discreetly, she said.
But a waitress came over and said that if she wanted to breast-feed, she had to cover the baby with a blanket. Ryan said it was so hot that she didn't have a blanket. The waitress then repeated her request. Ryan said she then asked to see the manager and handed him a copy of the 2006 Kentucky law that prohibits interference with a woman breast-feeding her baby in public.
The manager said he knew about the law but a customer had complained about indecent exposure, so she had to cover the baby with a blanket.
Ryan left as her food came, to nurse her baby in the car.
Her lawyer wrote a letter to Thomas & King, the company that operates Applebee's in Central Kentucky. They got no response. After a second letter, a Thomas & King lawyer said the restaurant 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.
When contacted yesterday, Mike Scanlon, president of Thomas & King, said he didn't know about the incident. However, he called the Herald-Leader back to say that 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.
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. There's no way they can explain their way out of this."
Thirty-nine states, including Kentucky, allow women to breast-feed in any public or private location.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breast-feeding for about the first six months and support for breast-feeding for the first year and beyond as long as mutually desired by mother and child. But according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 11 percent of mothers meet the six-month mark. Thirty percent breast-feed exclusively for the first three months. Kentucky's rates are 7.5 percent and 25 percent, respectively, according to a 2007 report.
Scanlon suggested that Ryan had an "agenda."
"I note with interest that she had a copy of the statute with her," he said. "I'm glad to let this become a matter that we can all learn from."
But if all Ryan wanted going into Applebee's was an anniversary lunch, she may indeed have an agenda now.
August is World Breast-feeding Awareness Month, and Ryan has organized two related public events:
• A "Nurse-In" at the children's play area at Fayette Mall from 1-3 p.m. Saturday. Ryan says the mall is not a target, but has a place for kids to play.
• From noon to 2 p.m. Sept. 8, she is holding a "Nurse Out" with posters and breast-feeding in front of the Applebee's on Nicholasville Road.
She's also asking for a public apology from Applebee's and training for its employees about the rights of breast-feeding mothers. Some day, she says, she would like to see the international breast-feeding symbol of a mother and child in every restaurant that supports the practice.
"I'm not trying to be provocative," she said. "I want to teach."
Read comments from Kentucky.com [prospero.com]
Read comments from Fark.com [fark.com]
Reach Linda Blackford at (859) 231-1359 or [email protected].
EDIT: Added Polling Goodness!
Community Wiki
Last Edited by JayVee7777
September 11, 2007
at
09:38 PM
MOST.BIASED.POLL.EVAH
hmmm, she prolly needed 2 or 3 blankets
http://media.heraldlea
hmmm, she prolly needed 2 or 3 blankets
http://media.heraldlea
525 Comments
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That would be awesome though if you could!
The birth of a baby is beautiful too. BUT, I wouldn't want to broadcast my wife giving birth to other ppl!
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I find it very interesting that the Victoria's Secret fashion show is fine, but a mother providing nourishment to her child is gross. You're seeing far less skin on the nursing mom.
"Girls Gone Wild" or flashing for beads, etc. is more acceptable in this culture than what the girls are intended to be used for.
Kinda sad really.
"Girls Gone Wild" or flashing for beads, etc. is more acceptable in this culture than what the girls are intended to be used for.
Kinda sad really.
"Girls Gone Wild" or flashing for beads, etc. is more acceptable in this culture than what the girls are intended to be used for.
Kinda sad really.
If I was her, I would have continued to sit there and feed my baby until the police came to take me away. I would not raise my voice, I would not move either though.
I might call the news though... see how they like to film women breastfeeding in public and how much the manager would like to be on TV for asking me to leave.
Babies need to eat, and not everyone can pump effectively. I was a terrible pumper, so bringing a bottle wasn't an option for me. I refuse to be a hermit for the first 9 months to a year of my child's life because someone else can't be a grown up and look away while I nourish my child.
Women who breast feed in public = trailer trash. It's very simple. You know when your baby is going to need to eat, so schedule your life around that.
I could go on about how you must be fairly uneducated and unable to handle something as simple as a breastfeeding mother, but why throw around insults? Especially those that are generalized and have no basis whatsoever?
And no, you don't always know when your baby is going to eat. Babies get hungry at different times, just like we as adults do. Sure, some have somewhat of a schedule, but who's to say that a hunger pain won't hit the baby at any random time? And rather than you saying I should schedule my life around when my baby eats, it's more like you are asking me to schedule my life around what will be most comfortable for you.
I get that not everyone is comfortable with a mother nursing her child. Everyone is different and I can't fault anyone for their level of comfort, *but* for them to insinuate that I am trashy or gross for simply feeding my child, that's where the line is drawn.
I nurse in public when needed. As someone else said, I don't go out of my way, but you can bet that if my child is hungry, I will feed her. She comes first. Now, I do my best to be discreet. I don't really have a problem with trying to cover-up (in fact, I prefer to do so as much as possible)... But I refuse to go sit in a bathroom and feed my baby, or make her wait to eat simply because some strangers may have a brief, fleeting moment of embarassment in some form. In fact, it's rather ironic that people expect a baby to eat in a bathroom (and also for the mother to sit on an uncomfortable toilet seat at that, while possibly trying to tend to older children), while everyone else at that restaurant is there to enjoy a meal. Why can't a baby, and therefore, the mother? It's a restaurant. Eat and go on with life.
The birth of a baby is beautiful too. BUT, I wouldn't want to broadcast my wife giving birth to other ppl!
As Kimber said, I know that no one will change their mind about this, but I did feel the need to voice my thoughts on it. I just get tired of having to defend feeding my child.
For the ladies that think it is okay to breast feed in public, please attach pictures of yourself in the act. Since it is beautiful and nothing wrong with it, all of you should be quick to comply.
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in Kentucky (where this incident takes place) the law is clearly on the mother's side:
(1) Not withstanding any other provision of the law, a mother may breastfeed her baby or express breastmilk in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be. Breastfeeding a child or expressing breastmilk as part of breastfeeding shall not be considered an act of public indecency and shall not be considered indecent exposure, sexual conduct, lewd touching, or obscenity.
(2) A municipality may not enact an ordinance that prohibits or restricts a mother breastfeeding a child or expressing breastmilk in a public or private location where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be. In a municipal ordinance, indecent exposure, sexual conduct, lewd touching, obscenity, and similar terms do not include the act of a mother breastfeeding a child in a public or private location where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be.
(3) No person shall interfere with a mother breastfeeding her child in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be.