breastfeeding mom harassed at Ronald McDonald House

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Ronald McDonald House asks our family to leave for breastfeeding!
My sister and I are staying in the Ronald McDonald House in Houston because one of her 17 month old twins had to have brain surgery to remove a tumor last week. The RMH has been great and we have felt so blessed to find such a safe and homey place to take care of her other two children and my daughter while we are here for Tobin's recovery.

However yesterday my sister, who is nursing the twins, was asked to stop nursing in the communal area of the Ronald McDonald House and to take it up to her room. She was shocked! After his surgery her son will basically only drink breastmilk and it is the only thing that eases the constant pain and anxiety he feels. She told them that it was illegal, according the Texas state law, to ask a breastfeeding mother to stop nursing in any public or private place. She also tried to explain to them how inconvenient it would be for her to take all her children up 3 floors to their room every time her sick child needs to nurse.

Unfortunately after 30 minutes of arguing, and being threatened with being kicked out, she was in tears and they weren't backing down. So I headed down there to talk to the administrator because I am also nursing my three year old daughter. I even pulled up the state law on my laptop and after a lengthy discussion the administrator acted as if she was going to examine the law so she understood it and move on. I thought that was the end of it.

Today I find out they may be kicking us out of the RMH because we refused to comply with what they call their "interpretation of the law". Their interpretation is that if they provide somewhere else for us to nurse they don't have to let us nurse in public places. Since when do laws get to be personally tailored to an organizations needs?

This is a ridiculous and terrible situation for all of us, I am not sure what else we will do if we can't stay here but we can't just not nurse our children. The Ronald McDonald is such a great resource, why do they have to discriminate against nursing moms?

If you would like to send a letter(s) we would appreciate it. Arlene Whatley is The Director of Operations of The Holcombe location of the RMH where we are staying and one of the people who Jessica spoke to about this. It is Arlene that seems to be making the decision here. Her email is [email protected] and her phone is (713) 795-3570.

Also her higher ups, The Executive Director can be emailed at [email protected] and the Director of Administration is [email protected].

This message may also be shared and reposted as you see fit. Thank you all for your support.

**Update**..please read Update posts for a more info but as of Saturday Afternoon(4/14) we are still being asked not to nurse anywhere but our rooms and Arlene, who I spoke to today by phone, has informed me that she will be contacting the Executive Director and their attorneys on Monday about the situation before any other decisions will be made. I have been told by Arlene that she will do what she needs to do and that I am to "be very careful" about what I decide to do. We are being told that we are not being asked to leave right now and that they never meant that we should have to...despite the fact that Arlene told my sister in front of another RMH employee on speaker phone that families who could not acclimate to the environment at RMH should find somewhere else to stay. She admitted this to me on the phone today, that yes she did tell Jessica that...but that did not mean we actually had to leave. Also the day after she was asked to stop nursing(yesterday) Jessica's social worker was contacted by RMH and was apparently told that she may need to help us make other accommodations. The RMH actually contacted my sister's social worker who handles Tobin's case while he is in the hospital and got her involved...because Jessica was nursing and they are not ok with that? I guess nursing means not acclimating to their environment and she was just trying to intimidate Jessica into stopping the nursing of her sick son.

I do want to say that aside from Arlene, and the original employee who asked my sister to stop nursing, we have been treated very well here and want to say that the RMH has great employees as well as the ones bullying us.

I believe that if there is going to be a law that says: woman do not go around uncovered then that law should be applied equally and consistently. I understand that breast feeding is a natural process, but then again so is urinating (I know I have offended and angered people with this remark).

It is not impossible to cover up, and it proves difficult then one can move to a private space.

Incidentally, I didn't have a strong position on this issue and I guess still don't (more leaning) until it was pointed out that male members of congress were absolute desperate not to avoid offending female constituents despite valid arguments against the often hysterical ones made by those that demand these "rights."

A man can go topless but it makes a women a criminal?

Yes, assuming such a person would be tried and then convicted of the related offense.

The Law In Question

So if the mother isn't trespassing, she has the right to breastfeed.

I think it is actually legal for a woman (breastfeeding or not) to be completely topless in NYC. But no woman takes advantage of the law .

you can't compare breastfeeding with going to the bathroom because there has always been a taboo against bathroom stuff in public, whereas it used to be very natural and accepted for women to breastfeed in public.

It was only once formula feeding started that people forgot about breastfeeding, and now that women are starting to breastfeed again, it freaks people out.

Also, going to the bathroom is a single person enterprise-- whereas what are you supposed to do if your baby is crying and hungry?

Make them starve until you have privacy?

Go sit in a filthy public restroom?

Breastfeeding is normal and not gross.

it's nothing that should be hidden.

My coworker's wife who
had the personality of a rattle snake only formula feed her baby at the time.