Kicked out for Breastfeeding

I have totally nursed my baby in McDonald's. I didn't think anything of it. I did it discreetly. What are you supposed to do if you have toddlers and a baby? Never take them to McDonald's? It's a great, cheap place to meet with other moms and let the kids go crazy. This is really discouraging that a mom would be treated this way.

FROM CNN: An unusual protest at a fast-food restaurant near Phoenix. A large group of mothers staged a "nurse-in" at McDonald's after a mom was kicked out for nursing her baby. Tyler Baldwin has the story. It's not your typical lunch hour at this McDonald's off 51st avenue and cactus. parents opting not for the happy meal. "People shouldn't be ashamed of it, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

This nurse-in style protest was put together after a manager kicked out a pair of women and their kids because one of the mothers was breast feeding. "The manager asked her to leave. She stated that she was within her legal rights in the state of Arizona to nurse her child. He said he didn't care, he was going to call the police. Her older child was scared his mother was going to be arrested so they decided rather than fight it they were going to leave."

Jennie Reiff drove in from California for this event, she is friends with the women originally kicked out. "The assistant manager followed them out to the parking lot, wrote down her licenses plate number. She felt very harassed and threatened, her kids were scared." Breastfeeding is protected by Arizona(and Illinois) state law which provides that indecent exposure does not include an act of breast feeding by a mother and entitles a mother to breast-feed in any public place where the mother is otherwise lawfully present. "It's not about showing your breasts or being inappropriate, it's about feeding your child. That's all it's about. It's sad that society has to frown upon it, something so natural and such a special gift."

The owner of the McDonald's issued a statement apologizing for the incident saying "As a mother myself, I understand why this is upsetting." She promised it wouldn't happen again in her restaurant.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

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