Results tagged “breastfeeding”

Hey kids, you can get kicked out of the library and IKEA now too! Meet Bebe Gloton, which translates to Greedy Baby, or more accurately: Creepy Breastfeeding Baby Doll. A Spanish toy company created the toy, which comes with a bra-like halter top featuring flowers where the milk would come from. Allegedly it's "latched on to the petals, where it emits a suckling sound, before it has to be burped to stop it from crying" (as demonstrated in this video). The View ladies discussed the controversial doll, which is currently only sold in Spain, and Elizabeth Hasselbeck admitted that her daughter imitated her breastfeeding. The creator said that they realized girls were, in fact, imitating the action, and the doll garnered a positive reaction amongst them; "Their faces of happiness said it all." Well, breastfeeding is linked to lowering cancer risks. And the world awaits the Park Slope Parents message board thread...

As a part of World Breastfeeding Week, a number of mothers and their children took to the subways for the fifth annual Breastfeeding Mothers' Subway Caravan. The point of the caravan is to remind non-lactating people that breastfeeding on the subway is totally legal—the NYC Department of Health says, "In New York State, employers must provide time and a space to pump breast milk. Both New York City and New York State have laws that protect a woman's right to breastfeed in public."

Lactivists are probably still reeling from the IKEA incident, but now CityRoom reports that on July 30th, Enrique Velez and Marta Lily were ticketed while breastfeeding in their parked car on East 27th Street. While they admit they were in a no-standing zone, their 6-month-old wasn't about to wait for them to get home, so Velez had run to his office nearby to heat up the breast milk. Allegedly he got caught up on a phone call, and Lily began nursing. Though their car wasn't blocking anyone, the officer gave them a $115 ticket for parking in a commercial no-meter zone, even though the no-standing restriction was only valid for another 20 minutes. The couple, as well as bystanders, explained the circumstances in hopes the officer would let it go, but to no avail. Velez told the site, “He didn’t care. We were not blocking anybody. It’s not like we had to move. There were not even cars.” Should the officer have turned a blind eye?

The big bad Big Box IKEA is the latest to ostracize breastfeeding moms from their establishment. One Brooklyn mom tells her recent story of being banished to the bathroom when she tried to feed her 6 1/2 month old something other than Swedish meatballs at the store:

On Wednesday I was in IKEA Red Hook in the middle of breastfeeding, fully covered, when I was told I had to stop doing "that" and go to the nearby family bathroom. The IKEA employee and security guards were extremely rude to us. I was hustled off to the bathroom and then had to wait because someone else was using it. I was humiliated, my daughter was upset from being interrupted in the middle of her feed. When eventually I gave up and headed for the car to finish feeding, the security guards who had seen the entire event insisted on checking my receipts. I'm putting together a formal complaint to IKEA. I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else?

This from an establishment selling reindeer meat during the holiday season. For the record, public breastfeeding is legal anytime and anywhere (here's a handy card to carry around from the NYCLU). We reached out to IKEA for a comment on this incident, but have yet to hear back. In March the Brooklyn Library made a public apology after one of their security guards scolded a woman for feeding her child in their branch.

If you thought his troubles with designer Jack McCollough were resolved, you were wrong. Kiefer Sutherland had been waiting to find out if the misdemeanor assault charges against him would be dropped until just now. Good thing we weren't holding our breath. TMZ reports that Sutherland is totally in the clear for the incident that took place back in May. An incident that would have been way more interesting if the actor were more Jack Bauer in real life, or even if he channeled his previous Christmas tree attack. So let's get on to the juicier Kiefer news. Page Six reports that he was spotted making out in public! With his girlfriend! Stars, they're just like us but with headlines. He and Siobhan Bonnouvrier lost themselves in a "hot make-out session" on on the lawn of Hudson River Park near 12th Street this past Saturday. An eye witness told the rag, "They had their hands all over each other. They really got into it. One young mom breast-feeding her baby nearby was like, 'Go Kiefer!'" Our sources who were on the scene with said breast-feeding mom say there was even a thong-flashing involved.

Sure, World Breastfeeding Week isn't until August, but the lactivists can celebrate a small victory today. The NY Post reports that "the Brooklyn Public Library was forced to apologize to a new mother after a security guard scolded her on two occasions for breast-feeding her daughter in a children's book area." The female security guard was allegedly unaware that New York law dictates that women have the right to breast-feed at any time, in any location. The mom, Danielle Glanvill, said the guard "was uncomfortable with the flesh of my breast being exposed and told me what I was doing was 'inappropriate in front of the children'," and walked away when she tried to explain the law. After contacting the New York Civil Liberties Union, the guard was transferred to a different branch, memos were hung up, the library apologized, and the breast-feeding continues amongst the books in Brooklyn.

After Facebook removed photos of breast-feeding mothers from profile pages and albums, a protest group—on Facebook, naturally—has emerged. The "Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!" has almost 60,000 members who support nursing moms' right to post photos of breast-feeding their babies. The Daily News reports that Facebook only removes photos shown with full boob—Facebook wants the site to "[remain] a safe, secure and trusted environment for all users, including the many children [over the age of 13]"—but Mothers International Lactation Campaign has asked folks, on December 27, "change your profile picture for one day, to one which includes an image of a nursing mom." A Brooklyn lactation consultant tells the News, "The more people see breast-feeding, the more normal it becomes. It's a natural, beautiful state to be in." Previously, breast-feeding moms have taken on Toys R Us, Barbara Walters, and formula.

The lactivists were at it again today! WNBC reports that to help kick-off World Breastfeeding Week, "breast-feeding advocates boarded an A train on Friday for a ride from the Bronx to Brooklyn to call attention to a mother's right to nurse her baby." Since breastfeeding in public has been legal for 14 years, their main goal was to get NY lawmakers "to pass legislation that would require health care providers to tell pregnant women about the benefits of breast-feeding before and after delivery." State Senator Liz Krueger was amongst the group today, and noted that the bill would in part "ban commercial interests from pressuring new mothers into using formula."