Applebee's Discriminates Against Breastfeeding

Kentucky.com ^ | 8/29/07 | Linda B. Blackford

[knuthom]

I nursed four children. None of them would have put up with having a blanket over their heads. I nursed everywhere I went and never had anyone complain. I would have carried a copy of the law if it had been in effect then.

Those that say to wean a baby at seven months or pump and use a bottle are ignorant about breastfeeding.

Babies are not ready for to get all of their nutrition from other sources at seven months. I never fed my babies any formula. Why would I substitute highly processed, artificial "formula" for the food God meant babies to enjoy? It is inferior in every way.

As for pumping and using a bottle to give breast milk, that is not a practical solution. Not all breastfed babies will take a bottle. Pumping is never as efficient as the baby nursing. And it requires keeping the milk chilled during storage and warming it later. The readily available breast is so much better.

Some people who get bent all out of shape over a nursing mother would never say anything to a woman who was wearing a very low cut top. You can often see more of the breast in that case than while nursing. But it bothers them to see a baby nurse because they "know " what that baby is doing. I say they should get over it. That is the way babies are meant to be fed.

[COgamer]

Unless they allow men to breastfeed, which I’m pretty darn sure they don’t, I don’t see how they’re “discriminating” by not allowing women to.

[Plains Drifter]

I recall one time in the East County town of El Cajon, California outside of San Diego my wife and I were attending an auction of antiques. The auditorium had row seating which were empty as the patrons, about 60 of us, were viewing the items to be auctioned when a young lady walked in with an infant. She seated hereself in the middle of the empty seats and proceeded to breast feed her baby without a blanket. When she started breast feeding the infant I looked around the auditorium to get the reaction of those in the room, both men and women. The reaction seemed to be okay this woman is breast feeding a baby, no big deal. No one stared, no one paid any attention to the woman. We all went back to evaluating the items to be auctioned and after about 10 minutes the young lady got up and removed the infant from the dispenser, put it away and left the area. No rapes, no riots, no molestations, nothing occurred immediately after? AMAZING

[Kickass Conservative]

I suggest the Bloomin Onion. Only takes one hand to eat it.

[LongElegantLegs]

True: They are totally different methods of eating. For a new mother, changing back and forth can inhibit milk production, and make a long-term nursing habit difficult to establish.

[JoeSixPack1]

...handed him a copy of the 2006 Kentucky law that prohibits interference with a woman breast-feeding her baby in public.

So she just happened to have a spare copy with her just in case? I smell set-up.

[LasVegasMac]

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.

You are fired, moron.

[ScreamingFist]

Ryan said it was so hot that she didn't have a blanket.

Ahh yes, the Applebee's sans air conditioning.....what a bunch of hooey, throw a damn nursing bib over the teet and carry on....unless you want the big bucks.....there is no defense here. Dumb broad, high dollar lawyer.

[andyssister]

ulititarian

A very understandable Freudian slip. :)

[IronJack]

pissing is a normal bodily function, but I don’t do it at the booth.

Bullseye!

[Sherman Logan]

My wife breastfed our two daughters for a year each.

She always had a cover of some sort in the diaper bag precisely so she could cover the baby while she fed.

Never had a whiff of a problem. What is somebody going to do, walk over and demand to know what’s going on under the blankie?

[Kozak]

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.

And she didn't have a cloth diaper, or the restaurant did not have a towel or napkin? I have no aversion to breast feeding infants, my wife breastfed both of ours but she always managed to do it discreetly. Thats not a lot to ask for.

[Saundra Duffy]

I am 100% for breastfeeding any time anywhere any place. It’s healthy for society, for the mom, for the baby and for the dad.

Anyone who puts a roadblock up in front of a nursing mom is just plain wrong.

[MarkL]

I say tough titty!

And we can't determine the guilt or innocence of the woman without pictures!

Mark

[Kickass Conservative]

Another customer was offended by the blatant display and complained to the restaurant manager. Would we be having this discussion if that customer threatened to sue because the manager did nothing to stop the display of public nudity in a family restaurant? Maybe some people don’t want to watch a nursing baby while they’re eating their meal. Is there no such thing as modesty left in this country? The mother could have been a little more discreet in deference to others while still accomplishing her goal of feeding the child. Forcing a captive audience to “share” her motherhood experience is a little self centered if you ask me.

[melissa_in_ga]

In 1987, when my second son was about 2 months old, I went to a bingo night at the local Elks lodge with my mother. My son got hungry and then entire room waited very patiently while I situated him and tossed a small blanket over my shoulder before beginning the next game. Not once, in a room full of older women and cowboys, did I receive a dirty look or a complaint.

I did, however, win the $500 coverall at the end of the evening :)

[MarkL]

Breastfeed in the bathroom. Heck, pissing is a normal bodily function, but I don’t do it at the booth.

Something that's increasingly rare is the fact that many women's restrooms actually had a seperate lounge area, apart from the rest room itself. They usually had plush chairs and were designed for just this sort of thing, without making the woman feed her child in the bathroom.

Mark

[familyop]

Our Baby Boomer peers continue to be childish and confused. Nursing was not considered to be a sexual spectacle in nice, Protestant neighborhoods of the ‘60s and before. Staring at a breast of a nursing mother or complaining about the matter was considered to be rude.

[org.whodat]

And seven months old is still a baby.

Did not say it wasn't.

[Las Vegas Ron]

There used to be something in this Country, oh yeah Class Decorum and Common Sense. But alas, no more (sigh)