Applebee's Discriminates Against Breastfeeding

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

[mockingbyrd]

trolling for a law suite

Not at all. That infor is routinely handed out at hospitals and doctors' offices because women are harrassed.

The kid is seven months old, ween it lady.

First of all, the child is not an it, but a human being. Second, seven months old is typically too early to wean a baby.

[spunkets]

"I'm a big believer in avoiding chemically-engineered foods for our son. "

There's no such thing as a chemically engineered food. Perhaps you just don't want to give the kid tofu juice. I had some of that once, to see why the kids liked it so much and gagged. I concluded from that babies don't have taste buds and that's why they eat paint.

I support the right to breast feed w/o having to follow all the ridiculous rules thought up by various busy bodies. They're no different than a pervert that stares. I'll write to Applebys, but have no expectation they'll do anything.

Their food tastes like plastic and I expect their execs are plastic too. The treatment the lady and her kid got in KY from the co. indicates that. I also got a similar mindless response, when I was told that serving medium rare hamburgers was a against the law. It's not. When I got the burger, I was glad it was well done, because it was "ripe" and had been stored in liquid nitrogen for several years before hitting their kitchen.

[hophead]

Wow! And I didn’t even know it was on the menu!

[elcid1970]

Very, very old med school joke:

Why is mother’s milk better than formula?

1. It’s always fresh.

2. The cats can’t get at it.

3. And it comes in such a cute little container.

;^)

[Peejz]

My sister nurses her daughter and will not use formula. She pumps for occasions such as this.

[mommamcgee]

Your comment is just ignorant. Babies who are being nursed should be EXCLUSIVELY breastfed until 6 months of age.

After that, solids are introduced - but breastmilk is still the primary food for babies that young.

Breastmilk is the natural first food for babies, it provides all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs for the first months of life, and it continues to provide up to half or more of a child’s nutritional needs during the second half of the first year, and up to one-third during the second year of life.

And the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend breastfeeding until the baby is AT LEAST 12 months old, and then afterward, for as long as mutually desired by mother and child.

And I don't feel that simply having a copy of the law at the ready is at all negative or "trolling for a lawsuit." People obviously are unaware of the law a lot of the time, and there have been quite a few of highly-publicized instances lately where nursing mothers have been harrassed. It's actually a good idea to be prepared.

[Ramius]

I think there’s two ways to be wrong about this.

A woman breastfeeding should not be a big deal or in any way disruptive. It is after all about as natural a human thing as we can do.

But also: It is only respectful to conduct yourself in such a way to not raise a ruckus in public. Said another way, it is wrong to intentionally create a situation in order to make a soapbox to stand on.

I think many of these women are intentionally trying to make a scene.

I was caught offguard once when I walked up to visit with a friend, a girl that I’d known for many years, since childhood really, who’d just had her first baby. She was sitting there holding her baby as I walked up. I hadn’t seen her new baby yet and a crept up close and craned my neck over close to her to look at the little tyke... and... it was only at the last possible second with my face right close that I realized... oh my. She was breastfeeding, and yah... it absolutely looked for all the world like I was craning my neck over to check her out her admittedly impressive rack. Which I wasn’t. But it sure looked like I was. I figured that’s what she thought.

I was horrified, said a few quick pleasantries and made a quick exit. It’s too bad there isn’t some sort of universally recognized signal. Heck... in my case I was so ignorant of things that even if she’d been covered with a blanket I probably would have moved it out of the way to look at the little tyke... being completely stupid about why the blanket was there in the first place.

[GOP_1900AD]

For hundreds of years no one breast fed in public in civilized Western countries but in the past 20 years all the sudden it’s perceived as some sort of right. Asking to be discrete using some sort of covering is not too much to ask. The gave the lady an out that would have allowed her to feed her child but apparently she wanted to push her bogus perceived “right” and make a point. Sorry but, all I can say is, go ahead and call the whhhHHHHHHAAAAMMMMMMBBBBBbbbbulance.

[org.whodat]

The fact that she left in tears indicates that she was not looking for an argument. The fact that she sat at the rear of the restaurant and faced away from people says to me that she was trying to avoid annoying or embarrassing anyone

Bs, there are two sides to this story, why should I believe her side?? She went looking to make a political statement and to draw attention to herself, she admits this was what she was doing, that is why she didn't have a shaw!

[spunkets]

"other folks have rights too. That includes a meal without watching someone making a display of herself."

You can always mind your own business. You don't have to focus and concentrate on other people eating. Why focus on a baby, can't you look around and find some guy drooling, not using their napkin to wipe crumbs off their chin, or something else?

[Mr Rogers]

You are assuming she told the truth about what happened to her. I think she lied. Her scenario just doesn’t ring true.

[Fairview]

I think you and your family should stay home when your baby is hungry.

What a very helpful suggestion. Unfortunately young babies often need to be fed every two hours. No mother could ever go anywhere or do anything if she had to stay home as long as she was breastfeeding her baby--a year, sometimes longer. She'd be trapped at home as surely as any Muslim woman.

[Melas]

And the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend breastfeeding until the baby is AT LEAST 12 months old, and then afterward, for as long as mutually desired by mother and child.

Horsehockey. If the child is old enough to walk up to mom and pull out a breast, that child is way too old to breastfeed, and I don't care what the ultra-liberal W.H.O has to say to the contrary. 12 months is certainly approaching that age if not past it.

[djf]

Exactly. She could have easily found a less dramatic way to take care of things. But this is about

Me me me me me me me me me (baby) me me me me me me...

[BobS]

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

"Bullseye!

Even if the mom is cute with nice ones?

[usaproud]

I agree cover the baby and there’s no problem.

[ScreamingFist]

She'd be trapped at home as surely as any Muslim woman.

Negative. My mother breastfed both I and my brother, she had a nice bib and scores of hand washed white diapers. If we became unruly she would discreetly go to a more private location..... I have have personally seen lactating women swing there gozommba's around trying to get a nipple stuck in a screaming infants mouth.....in a nice restaurant...... My pity level is low.

[org.whodat]

for as long as mutually desired by mother and child.

Are you one of those nut cases that think it is ok for a kid to nursing at 6 are 7 years of age??

Oh, and for my ignorance, my mother had eleven children, she weened them all at six months, she said cows milk and southern gravy was good for us.

[ktscarlett66]

Yah. Eat in the bathroom then, why don’t you? That’s all breastfeeding is. Eating. Nourishment.

It never ceases to amaze me. In this country, we can see breasts encased in Victoria’s Secret latest concoction of lace and nylon, watch Baywatch gals bounce across the screen, Google Janet Jackson’s Superbowl escapade (boobie! cool!) or see Pamela Anderson’s cleavage on the front page of every supermarket tabloid.

But God forbid you use your breasts for what they were intended for (and it wasn’t for men, much as they might enjoy them.) It was to **feed** infants. No adult goes to Applebees and eats their meals in the restroom - why should a woman want to sit on a toilet to feed a baby? Contrary to what some people think, if you’re nursing, getting a baby to take a bottle isn’t always an option. And besides the health factor, one reason women nurse is to not have to lug bottles around, make formula etc.

Other countries handle this so much better. Europe is great. There is something wrong in America, that breasts are A-Ok to titillate with but not to feed with. We associate sex with breasts. Feeding a child is not a sex act and it’s nowhere near equivilent to relieving oneself.