kfcboston
10-24-2003, 06:20 AM
From the Boston Herald.........
Moms milk sympathy for breastfeed law
by Elisabeth J. Beardsley
Friday, October 24, 2003
Yeemay Miller said she couldn't believe it when a clothing store manager gave her the ``criminal'' treatment and then tossed her out when she tried to breastfeed her baby during a shopping excursion.
After all, the Quincy woman said, she was already sitting on the floor, hiding underneath a clothing rack in an attempt to feed the hungry infant without causing a public ruckus.
``(The manager) didn't budge and made me feel like I was doing some kind of criminal act,'' Miller told lawmakers yesterday. ``I left the store shaking. I was just trying to meet the basic needs of my baby.''
Calling for a new law to explicitly allow public breastfeeding - which is not actually illegal in Massachusetts - a group of mothers told lawmakers yesterday that fear of persecution keeps them from riding the T or taking their babies to public events.
Pediatricians decried a widespread squeamishness that discourages breastfeeding, which studies have shown is much better for the baby than bottles, and reduces the mother's risk of breast cancer.
``No more excuses,'' said Dr. Barbara L. Philipp, a professor at Boston University School of Medicine. ``Let's make it clear that breastfeeding is not a form of indecent exposure or lewd behavior.''
The signs seemed good for the movement yesterday on Beacon Hill, where nobody batted an eye when Virginia Schnee of Auburn breastfed 5-month-old Sarah in the State House's Gardner Auditorium.
That wasn't the case when Schnee tried to feed the baby girl at a recent assembly at her young son's school - prompting a phone call the next day from the principal, who said the family was no longer welcome.
``Nobody seemed to mind,'' Schnee said of her State House breastfeeding experience yesterday. ``I'm still nervous. I'm afraid someone is going to say something that condemns me.''
Twenty-eight states have laws allowing public breastfeeding.
Moms milk sympathy for breastfeed law
by Elisabeth J. Beardsley
Friday, October 24, 2003
Yeemay Miller said she couldn't believe it when a clothing store manager gave her the ``criminal'' treatment and then tossed her out when she tried to breastfeed her baby during a shopping excursion.
After all, the Quincy woman said, she was already sitting on the floor, hiding underneath a clothing rack in an attempt to feed the hungry infant without causing a public ruckus.
``(The manager) didn't budge and made me feel like I was doing some kind of criminal act,'' Miller told lawmakers yesterday. ``I left the store shaking. I was just trying to meet the basic needs of my baby.''
Calling for a new law to explicitly allow public breastfeeding - which is not actually illegal in Massachusetts - a group of mothers told lawmakers yesterday that fear of persecution keeps them from riding the T or taking their babies to public events.
Pediatricians decried a widespread squeamishness that discourages breastfeeding, which studies have shown is much better for the baby than bottles, and reduces the mother's risk of breast cancer.
``No more excuses,'' said Dr. Barbara L. Philipp, a professor at Boston University School of Medicine. ``Let's make it clear that breastfeeding is not a form of indecent exposure or lewd behavior.''
The signs seemed good for the movement yesterday on Beacon Hill, where nobody batted an eye when Virginia Schnee of Auburn breastfed 5-month-old Sarah in the State House's Gardner Auditorium.
That wasn't the case when Schnee tried to feed the baby girl at a recent assembly at her young son's school - prompting a phone call the next day from the principal, who said the family was no longer welcome.
``Nobody seemed to mind,'' Schnee said of her State House breastfeeding experience yesterday. ``I'm still nervous. I'm afraid someone is going to say something that condemns me.''
Twenty-eight states have laws allowing public breastfeeding.