In August, a Florida mom was asked to “cover up” when she attempted to breastfeed her baby at a Chick-Fil-A restaurant. Florida law allows for mothers to breastfeed their young in public. When neither the manager of that particular restaurant nor the higher-ups in the Chick-Fil-A corporation responded to contact attempts, the young mom went online and decided to stage a “nurse-in” at the restaurant with her “mom friends.”
Over 30 young women showed up at the joint one afternoon and breastfed their babies. The manager of the restaurant had been unaware of the state legislation regarding breastfeeding in public, and reportedly announced that the restaurant will go so far as to sport a sign suggesting that breastfeeding mothers are welcome there.
I am all for breastfeeding in public, and I don’t mean to say that with a smirk on my face – I save that for when women demand the right to walk around topless in the summer. However, a Chick-Fil-A restaurant is a privately owned business, not a public library. I do agree that they should be less uptight about young mothers feeding their babies, but I also think that tens of mothers breast-feeding their babies at the restaurant at once on purpose is, while certainly non-violent, kind of silly. It has a certain “you-can’t-stop-us” flavor to it instead of the “see-it’s-no-big-deal” kind.
Mika Salakka is a Finn living in the United States. He is a nursing assistant, a creative writer, a devoted husband, and an observer of the human condition. His interests range from music and literature to psychology, sociology, medicine, technology, and spirituality.
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I’ve never understood the militant nature of these mothers.
Sure, breastfeeding is a perfectly natural human function. But then so is the act that created the baby…and I don’t need to see that in public, either.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect women to at least cover up. I’ve had dinner with a family that included a new mom, and at one point she started breastfeeding. I had absolutely no idea it was even happening until it was almost over because she placed a drape over herself and was discreet. She didn’t feel the need, like these mothers did, to put on a show to make her point.