wrote:
My name is Michelle and I have 3 kids. I breastfed each one and have
never encountered a situation like the one a few days ago.


Loved this bit...
"Hickey might have been distracting lifeguards and swimmers.

"Nobody asked anybody to leave," Urbanowicz said. "All it was was a
safety issue. When you see something like that, it draws people's
attention from the pool. You kind of take a double take, triple take,
then you sink to the bottom of the pool."

Um, right. People just keel over and drown from seeing a woman
breastfeed. Right. I guess that's a good thing, thins the gene pool and
all that.

I'd heard something about this... and it made me more self conscious
about nursing my baby at our public pool while her sister had swim
lessons... even though I've never had a problem here. Then I wrote this
for a thread at www.thebabywearer.com in which a mama described being
asked to nurse her baby in the restroom at a restaurant.

I think it's time to start a "just say no" campaign... if someone asks
you to move, just say, "No."

If they say, "We need you to go to X location to nurse your baby"

Just say "No."

If they threaten you in any way, raise your eyebrows, stay calm, pick
up your cell phone, and call a lawyer, LLLI, and/or the news media. If
you are in a state with pro-breastfeeding legislation, consider calling
the police and very calmly say, "I'm being asked to stop breastfeeding
in a location I'm legally allowed to be in, and was wondering what
steps I can take to make them stop harassing me so that I can feed my
baby in peace? I'm feeling threatened by them." If you are in any sort
of franchise business, you can ask them quietly for the phone number
for their corporate offices, then call the number and say, "Your
franchise here says that I have to feed my baby in the restroom. My
next call is to CNN." Then see what happens.

Don't engage. Don't argue. There's nothing to argue about. You have a
right to do what you're doing, where you're doing it, and it's *their*
problem, not yours. Do not apologize for showing skin (some of us can't
help it). Do not defend yourself by saying, "I'm being modest" or "No
one else minds." You have nothing to defend yourself about. They...
they are being crude. They are being indecent. They are being
inappropriate and more importantly, in a majority of locations, THEY
ARE BREAKING THE LAW. THEY... do NOT have the right to ask you to move.

I have *so* had it up to here with women being asked to stop nursing
their babies. You know what? My baby *has* to eat. I *have* to be with
a senile mother in law, a 13 year old, a husband and the rest of my
family out in public at various times for various purposes. My baby
*needs* breastmilk and will continue to need it for quite some time.
Just because she "can" eat solids doesn't mean that they're the best
thing for her at all times. Just because I wear nursing clothes doesn't
mean that they cover up the breast effectively with a grabby nursing
toddler playing "It's light, it's dark, it's light, it's dark" while
randomly pulling off the boob. But she's 18 pounds at 15 months old
with a strange metabolism that gains 2 ounces on food that would put a
pound on a more typically developing kid, and if she's hungry, by
golly, I'm feeding her whenever, wherever, and however I can. If I'm
juggling a dog, a baby, her grandmother and a teenager, I'm *not* going
off somewhere private to nurse, period. Yep, I've got big boobs. Yep,
you can see 'em when I nurse. Either enjoy it or get over it, but
they're not going away and neither am I.

Interestingly enough, I have been approached and asked to nurse
elsewhere exactly *once* in over 7 years of breastfeeding, including a
good 3-4 years of NIP. Which is almost, almost a darn shame...lol!

The thing that gets me... is that it hurts *all* nursing mothers when
someone is asked to move. Because of a recent incident I heard about, I
was actually self-consious when nursing my daughter at the side of a
pool. No one said boo to me about it. I got a look or two, maybe, but
they could have been just random looks. But because another mother was
recently told she could not feed her baby by a pool, I didn't feel as
safe as I should have... I am in one of the most supportive communities
for breastfeeding in the US. I am legally protected to nurse anywhere
I'm allowed to be. We have the highest rate of initiating
breastfeeding, breastfeeding at 6 months and extended breastfeeding in
the nation last I looked... and still, because one mama was asked to
leave, I felt less comfortable. What hurts one of us hurts us all, and
I'm *tired* of it.

Jenrose