Mom told to stop breastfeeding in school lobby

MAY 19, 2010

Here we go again, it's another breastfeeding-in-public debate. This time it's a mom who was waiting in a school lobby for her older child who breastfed her 2 year old in the lobby. The school is not happy.

"The principal told me it was not appropriate for me to be breast-feeding in the office, and that I could either come when no students were there or go to a private location," the mother told the Hillsborough County School Board this week. "I was pretty shocked." The issue escalated from there, with the mother insisting on her right under Florida law to breastfeed in public, and district officials maintaining they could enforce reasonable limits.

One teacher hotly defended the school's position, saying she had to physically block a class of fourth graders from walking past her. I'm having a hard time believing we can't find a middle ground here. Is it really so traumatic for fourth graders to know how babies are fed? The mother, I'm sure, can do so without calling attention to herself. It seems like some maturity is called for.

The school board was already bracing itself for a hot debate over religious holidays and was in no mood to take up such a contentious issue. They threw it back to the staff to come up with a solution. So stay tuned.

-- Sharon Kennedy Wynne

Posted by Times Editor at 10:10:46 am on May 19, 2010 in

Breastfeeding bingo

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Sharon Kennedy Wynne has sunscreen in her blood. She may have been born in Buffalo but she got here as fast as she could, in time for kindergarten. She grew up in St. Petersburg, graduated from the University of Florida journalism school, and even got married at Sunken Gardens. She's one of the few adults we know who actually loves taking her kids to the beach. She has two sons and with 10 years of parenting under her belt, she's starting to feel a little less out of her league. She comes from a large family and loves to debate, so brace yourself when the hot topics come up.

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After six long years of trying to have a baby, Kate Brassfield was finally able to have one. And then, two minutes later, another one. Suddenly the lady who had never been around babies before was juggling two! Just as Kate felt she was getting pretty good with babies, the girls became toddlers, and now Kate is back to Square One, learning about the care and feeding of these strange, wonderful creatures. She spends her days working part-time from home and trying to keep up with the Twinosaurus Wrecks.

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Freelance writer Courtney Cairns Pastor wasn’t so sure about having kids and how she would balance child-rearing with her journalism career. It turned out that her journalism training went to good use. As the mom to a funny, active toddler, she learned to handle him like she did her sources. Never ask yes or no questions (the answer will always be no), get him to be specific (are you crying because you’re wet or your tooth hurts?) and be prepared for anything because no two days are the same. When she’s not playing trucks, Courtney crams for her book club, trains for races and occasionally bursts into showtunes. E-mail her at courtneyblogs@gmail.com.

Suzannah DiMarzio has it bad for the Mouse. Although she grew up outside of Boston, she took her degree in tourism management down to Orlando just to work at Disney and the travel industry. Of course, when she married her high school sweetheart, the reception was at Disney. She’s now a seasoned stay-at-home mom to two tweens and a toddler – and yes, that is as crazy as it sounds. Suzannah has her own blog, ZannaLand.com , and she's a member of the Walt Disney World Moms Panel in addition to being addicted to Twitter, iced coffee, and watching way too much Yo, Gabba Gabba.

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