Alison Dodge, co-founder of Happy Bambino and founding board member of Breastfeeding Coalition of South Central Wisconsin, joined Friday sub-host Gail Knopp-Baker on the 8 O’clock Buzz to discuss the breastfeeding incident at Grampa’s Pizzeria and talk more about breastfeeding in general.
On July 19, the owner of Grampa’s received a complaint from a patron about a breastfeeding mother at a nearby table. The owner, Gilbert Altschul, then went over to the mother and asked if she would go into the front dining room, which was empty. This incident created an uproar by mothers on social media and resulted in calls and visits to the restaurant. Read more about this story.
The restaurant didn’t know about the law in Wisconsin which gives a mother right to breast feed their children anywhere. The Wisconsin Legislative law 253.165 states, “Right to breast-feed. A mother may breast-feed her child in any public or private location where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be. In such a location, no person may prohibit a mother from breast-feeding her child, direct a mother to move to a different location to breast-feed her child, direct a mother to cover her child or breast while breast-feeding, or otherwise restrict a mother from breast-feeding her child as provided in this section.”
Alison had talked about some of the barriers that women face when it comes to breastfeeding, such as social stigmas, embarrassment and poor family or social support. In fact, as she stated, “75% of women start out breastfeeding and by 6 months only 16% of women are still exclusively breastfeeding.”
To learn more about breastfeeding log onto the Breastfeeding Coalition of South Central Wisconsin website or like them on Facebook.
