Don’t Fear the Boobies

Yesterday, I attended a Cleveland Indians/Cincinnati Reds spring training baseball game at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, AZ.  The Indians won!  My son got Grady Seizemore’s autograph. It was great to be in the sunshine and to see the Indians players up close.  We had a perfect day.  Almost.

Near the 8th inning, I decided to go to the kids zone area to nurse my seven-month-old daughter.  I picked that area because, 1) There was shade. 2) There was grass. and 3) The name “Kids Zone” implied familes were in there.  Families that I assumed included people that had seen a woman breastfeeding before.

Now, I would like to point out that my now 7 year-old-son was nursed in Yankee Stadium, Turner Field, Veteran’s Stadium, Camden Yards and Coors Field in the first year of his life. I am a pro at Baseball Stadium motherhood!

So, I nursed Bea. I don’t think any of the people enjoying the batting cages or the bouncy house even noticed I was there. However, when I was finished, a very pretty multi-tattooed girl, maybe 25 years old, with the beginnings of ear-lobe spacers in her ears,  came over to me and said. “Ma’am, I just want you to know that we have a family restroom.”

“Yes, I know. And?”

“Well, weren’t you feeiding your baby?”

“Yes.”

“Um, you aren’t allowed to do that out here.  That is what the family restroom is for.”

Was she serious? The family bathroom is a cold, windowless, chairless concrete box.  “No, it’s not. The family restroom is for going to the bathroom with kids.”

“Um, whatever. You can’t feed your baby out here.”

“It is illegal to tell a nursing mother where she can and can not feed her baby.”

“It is?”

“Yes, and you need to tell your supervisor that.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do if someone asks me what you are doing?”

“I would tell them that I’m feeding my baby.  I picked this area becasue it is a family area. Again, legally, you cannot tell me where to nurse, so I’m going to ask you to tell your supervisor that we had this conversation and I’m going to leave now.”

She clearly was not ready to go up against me. Tattoos or not. She was a little flustered, but finally said, “Well, I guess that is good to know when I become a mother some day.”

Indeed.

If I lived in Arizona, I would be organizing some sort of Nurse-In at the ballpark in the coming weeks, but alas, I do not. So if anyone wants to take that up, go for it.

Fight the power ladies.  For more information about the Law and the Breastfeeding Mother: Click HERE and to get involved in the Breastfeeding Mother’s movement, go HERE.