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LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A Lexington mother is launching a campaign promoting breast-feeding after a recent confrontation over nursing her infant at a local Applebee's restaurant.
"On a large scale ... I want breast-feeding to be accepted," Brooke Ryan, 34, told the Lexington Herald-Leader.
As part of her campaign, Ryan is organizing a "Nurse Out" on Sept. 8 with posters and breast-feeding outside the Applebee's in Lexington where she was confronted.
On June 14, Ryan sat down for lunch with her kids. Ryan said she picked a booth in the back of the restaurant away from other customers and discreetly nursed her 7-month-old son, Michael, when he got hungry.
A waitress asked Ryan to cover up with a blanket, though Ryan says it was too hot to carry one. After the waitress repeated her request, Ryan asked to see the manager and handed him a copy of the 2006 Kentucky law prohibiting interference with mothers breast-feeding in public.
Thirty-nine states, including Kentucky, allow women to breast-feed in any public or private location.
Ryan says she was told by the manager that he was aware of the law, but that customers were complaining about indecent exposure. He too asked her to cover up with a blanket.
Ryan left as her food came to nurse her baby in the car.
Her lawyer sent two letters to Thomas and King, the company that operates Applebee's in central Kentucky. A company attorney responded that the chain would consider keeping blankets in the restaurant so that breast-feeding women could cover themselves.
"That's like telling Rosa Parks she still had to sit in the back of the bus, but we'll give her a blanket to make her more comfortable," Ryan said.
Thomas and King President Mike Scanlon told the newspaper that he didn't know about the incident, though he said Applebee's had no policy against breast-feeding.
"It is perfectly legal to breast-feed in public and we support that," Scanlon said. "I'm not sure the manager said cover the baby's head, I think he said cover yourself modestly. This was by no means intended as interference, but a request to do it modestly, which I believe is an appropriate response."
Ryan says that as an experienced breast-feeder, she is extremely modest, and, in that instance, made sure that she was facing into the corner.
"Some women think it's fine to cover up with a blanket, but a woman shouldn't be forced to," said her husband, Michael Ryan.
State Sen. Tom Buford, R-Nicholasville, who sponsored the breast-feeding protection bill, agrees.
"She was not treated right under the new law," he said. "There should have been no comment made to her at all; the restaurant overstepped its boundaries."
Ryan also is asking for a public apology from Applebee's and training for its employees about the rights of breast-feeding mothers.
"I'm not trying to be provocative," she said. "I want to teach."
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Join the National Applebee's Nurse-In
12:00 - 1:00 pm Sep. 8, 2007
In the hopes of getting an apology from Applebee's and a promise to train its employees in breastfeeding rights, Brooke Ryan has organized a nurse-in locally for September 8, 2007. Activists have rallied to join her at 20 sites in 13 states so far. To see if a nurse-in is planned near you or to register your own site, join the Yahoo group set up to coordinate the events.
Find an Applebee's near you:
http://www.applebees.com/StoreFinder.aspx?s=menu
You might also send a message to Applebee's Featured Chef, Tyler Florence:
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