Mom Harassed for Breastfeeding 16-Day-Old Outside Daughter's Dance Class (VIDEO)

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by Jeanne Sager 3 hours ago

Here we go again. Another breastfeeding mom has tangled with a real boob about her right to nurse her baby in public. Only Lucy Eades's breastfeeding discrimination case might just take the prize for craziest place a mom was given grief for feeding her kid.

The incident -- which Eades' husband caught on video -- happened at the Burleson Recreation Center in Burleson, Texas. You know what recreation centers are for, don't you?

That's right ... families. So a family-friendly place, a place for moms and kids, had a problem with a mom feeding her ... kid?

Sigh.

As if it isn't hard enough out there for nursing moms to get respect in shopping centers, courthouses, and restaurants, now kid-centric establishments are a problem too?

The City of Burleson defended itself by explaining that it was hosting a camp for 5- to 13-year-olds the day Eades was trying to breastfeed her 16-day-old daughter while her older child attended a dance class:

To be respectful of everyone's rights we asked the women to cover up. There is nothing in the law that prohibits the city from requiring a mother to cover up. We also offered a room in an attempt to be more accommodative. The city did not attempt to prohibit breastfeeding and we fully support the freedom of mothers to breastfeed as long as it doesn't infringe on someone else's freedom.

Giant. Eye. Roll.

Come on y'all! The "freedom" of a bunch of kids is not at risk because a mom breastfeeds in their presence, especially not if they're from homes where a mom breastfeeds or their parents have taught them that breastfeeding is normal. Heck, the more kids see breastfeeding, the more likely THEY are to breastfeed (or support a partner doing so) when they grow up. It's like that whole circle of life thing Elton John sang about.

What's really at issue here is why a facility would present opportunities for children, claiming to be a place where parents can take their kids, and then not support parents. Being able to breastfeed at a recreation center for kids is just as important as being able to find a diaper changing station at the same facility.

Either you're family-friendly or you're not, and as long as you're not OK with breastfeeding moms, you're NOT family-friendly.

Do you expect the places where you take your kids be breastfeeding-friendly? Have you ever experienced trouble in one?

Image via _shWard_/Flickr

Click the "Like" button below to get Natural Parenting stories on Facebook. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jeanne Sager

writes articles for The Stir by day, slays closet monsters and bounds through bedtime stories with her elementary schooler by night. The Phineas and Ferb soundtrack reverberates through her brain.

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