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Nursing mom gets unwelcome reception
WFAA TV ^ | April 29, 2005

Posted on 04/30/2005 5:56:16 AM PDT by tuffydoodle

Nursing mom gets unwelcome reception

FW mall says security firm made a mistake

10:37 PM CDT on Friday, April 29, 2005

By KARIN KELLY / WFAA-TV

For many mothers, breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world.

But it turned into an embarassing situation that angered a North Texas woman this week after she said a mall security guard harassed her.

Adrian Sparks was shopping at Hulen Mall Thursday, and decided to discreetly nurse her eight-month-old baby under a blanket in the food court.

Also Online

Karin Kelly reports "The security guard came over and asked me to stop, and either go to the restroom or to leave," Sparks said.

The guard told Sparks a food court customer had complained, even though Sparks was covered with a blanket.

"I told him it was perfectly legal for me to nurse my child," Sparks said. "And that they sell clothes more revealing that what I was doing right here."

Of course, it is legal - but soon another manager approached.

"He said, 'well those rules don't apply because we're a private facility,'" she recalled.

Friends who breastfeed have rushed in for support.

"The human race wouldn't exist without breast milk," said nursing mom Rachel Tarbutton.

Some are members of La Leche League, an organization that supports mother's milk for health and bonding benefits..

"To know that she is getting everything she needs from me, from my body, is (important)," Sparks said.

Mall officials said the incident was not normal procedure, and that t heir new security company made a mistake.

"That is not a Hulen Mall policy," said manager Kevin Davies. " We support what she was doing, we support moms and all of our customers, and feel badly this occurred."

That's not all that reassuring for Sparks, though.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to shop there again, because I was just so upset about it," she said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: breastfeeding; donutwatch; mmmmmbreasts
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To: tuffydoodle

This is stupid and wrong. What the hell do they think nature made breasts for? Let her nurse her kid in peace.


41 posted on 04/30/2005 7:14:00 AM PDT by LibKill (Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.)
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To: tuffydoodle

Ironic that it's in style to let just about everything imaginable "hang out", but when a mom discretely uses her body for a legitimate purpose, that's not acceptable in this warped society.


42 posted on 04/30/2005 7:14:32 AM PDT by lolee
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To: Xenalyte

Not all babies transfer well between breast and bottle. Tiny ones have to eat very frequently and expecting the mom to not feed the infant just because she's out of the house isn't reasonable.

The mom also gets physically uncomfortable if nursing doesn't occur for extended periods of time. There are alternatives that have been listed on this thread that are better than insisting on bottle use and making the mom physically uncomfortable.


43 posted on 04/30/2005 7:15:59 AM PDT by prairiebreeze (Shut up Hillary.)
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To: Xenalyte

Here's where I get confused.
You can pump breast milk out and put it in the freezer, and you can also take it along in bottles if you and hungry baby must go out.
So, why not do it? Seems like a happy compromise - baby gets breat milk, no breasts in public.

I don't know.....


44 posted on 04/30/2005 7:16:23 AM PDT by mabelkitty
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To: mabelkitty

That's what I will do, if the situation ever arises.

That's what my sister did with her three.

That's what my mother did with my brother. (My sister had to have goat milk - I forget why - and it SMELLED.)


45 posted on 04/30/2005 7:17:15 AM PDT by Xenalyte (I dare you to make less sense.)
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To: tuffydoodle

I know I'm gonna get flamed for what I've already posted. That's cool.

Feed your babies at home, mothers. Plan YOUR schedules better, and we won't have to look at you flaunting what we fined the network for letting Janet Jackson show.


46 posted on 04/30/2005 7:18:06 AM PDT by Xenalyte (I dare you to make less sense.)
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To: ViLaLuz

As long as some equate the female breast with sexual activity, this will continue.


47 posted on 04/30/2005 7:22:01 AM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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To: r5boston

You need to be ashamed of yourself.


48 posted on 04/30/2005 7:22:21 AM PDT by expatguy (http://laotze.blogspot.com/)
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To: Xenalyte

"Feed your babies at home, mothers. Plan YOUR schedules better, and we won't have to look at you flaunting what we fined the network for letting Janet Jackson show."

Hah. You've clearly never had to arrange your time around an every 3 to 4 hour breastfeeding schedule. I'm supposed to head home every three hours just so you can feel more comfortable about what you see in public? Not likely. If you don't like it, don't look.


49 posted on 04/30/2005 7:22:37 AM PDT by Chiapet (Chthulu for President: Why vote for a lesser evil?)
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To: Xenalyte

My SIL did it because she also worked and couldn't breast feed at the drop of a hat. She also never left the house for unnecessary excursions until he was on a schedule.

Another case of people getting in an uproar because they absolutely refuse to put the child first and change their lifestyles to accommodate the child. They'd rather force the rest of us to accommodate the mother's whims and if that involves the public display of child-bonding then so be it.

Yeah, throw a blanket over the kid's head - that's nice. Whatever happened to looking at them in the eyes and talking and stroking them as they feed? Mother first, mother first.


50 posted on 04/30/2005 7:24:04 AM PDT by mabelkitty
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To: mabelkitty

Well, the problem I had was that my firstborn wouldn't take a bottle, breastmilk or formula. Also, you can breastfeed and not have breasts showing, using specifically made clothes and using a blanket over the shoulder. So, it looks to me like the people complaining are complaining about what they see in their minds eye.

What pisses me off is when I go into a grocery store with my children and there are magazine covers with half-naked women on the cover and titles of articles explaining how to better your oral sex capabilities.


51 posted on 04/30/2005 7:25:10 AM PDT by tuffydoodle
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To: Nucluside
If the scene is so objectionable, then why do some try so hard to see what is going on?

Is it because they have dirty minds, constantly think about sex and get off on watching?
52 posted on 04/30/2005 7:25:21 AM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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To: Chiapet

Thank you for illustrating my point.
Nobody would or should ever expect you to rearrange your schedule.


53 posted on 04/30/2005 7:25:47 AM PDT by mabelkitty
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To: Chiapet
If you don't like it, don't look.

Bingo!
With the resurgence of ponchos, it is even easier to hide what you're doing.

54 posted on 04/30/2005 7:27:39 AM PDT by mollynme (cogito, ergo freepum)
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To: mabelkitty

"Thank you for illustrating my point.
Nobody would or should ever expect you to rearrange your schedule."

Yes, the grocery and other shopping I have to do, and all the errands I have to run are all about me, lady. Right. It's just all my selfishness that makes me have to leave the house to pick up the drycleaning.


55 posted on 04/30/2005 7:27:53 AM PDT by Chiapet (Chthulu for President: Why vote for a lesser evil?)
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To: r5boston; cyborg
This is the same to me, as a guy taking a leak in the middle of a food court.

You might just have won an award for the most idiotic comment of the year here on FR.

56 posted on 04/30/2005 7:28:44 AM PDT by Petronski (Pope Benedict XVI: A German Shepherd on the Throne of Peter)
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To: Chiapet

That's why God invented the breast pump, and there's something called the bottle that I understand babies can drink from. Hell, I saw two of my nieces drinking from bottles just last weekend. Who'da thunk it?


57 posted on 04/30/2005 7:29:18 AM PDT by Xenalyte (I dare you to make less sense.)
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To: Petronski

You just wait until this thread heats up. I'll win by a landslide of angry lactaters.


58 posted on 04/30/2005 7:30:34 AM PDT by Xenalyte (I dare you to make less sense.)
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To: Xenalyte

"That's why God invented the breast pump, and there's something called the bottle that I understand babies can drink from."

Ok, you tell my (pardon the image, but...) leaking, about-to-explode breasts that I can't use 'em to feed my kid. May I ask where it is that I'm supposed to utilize this breast pump in a public place that would be less offensive to you? Your solutions, while occasionally useful, are sometimes impractical and impossible. And frankly, my breastfeeding is pretty discreet. Like I said, if you don't like it (that is if you even notice, which is unlikely), then don't look.


59 posted on 04/30/2005 7:33:11 AM PDT by Chiapet (Chthulu for President: Why vote for a lesser evil?)
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To: Xenalyte

Not all babies will drink from a bottle. No matter how much you try, they just cry and cry.


60 posted on 04/30/2005 7:33:12 AM PDT by tuffydoodle
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