A cafe owner is being praised after allowing a breastfeeding mother to stay in the eatery after a disagreement with another patron. According to Mail Online , the incident occurred at a Cheese and Biscuits cafe in Rockhampton, Queensland. A woman was nursing her child when she was approached by a man who asked her to cover up . Jessica-Anne Allen refused, and the man decided to tell her off. The cafe owner decided to ask the man to leave (or to relocate his seat), and was sure to let him know that the establishment is “breastfeeding-friendly.”
“To know that it’s still going on in this day and age, it’s just disgusting to me that someone thinks they can dictate how another person behaves in public, especially if they’re feeding their child,” said Allen.
The cafe owner who allowed the breastfeeding mom to stay and nurse her child is getting some serious recognition on the internet, as is the Cheese and Biscuits cafe. The company posted the following message on their Facebook page . Hundreds of people have expressed their appreciation.
“Cheese and Biscuits Cafe would like to reiterate that we are a breast feeding friendly cafe. We do not in anyway believe that to breast feed a baby is anything to be ashamed of and we will not ask customers to cover up. We would appreciate it if you would respect our choice and not ask our customers to cover up yourselves. We were mortified this morning when someone asked us to say something to the young mother, when we politely declined and informed the customer that we were breast feeding friendly, they then took it upon themselves to say something. As you can imagine we politely asked the offending customer to leave, but it still left the young mother embarrassed. It was a situation that did not have to arise at all. Cheese and Biscuits Cafe supports breast feeding mothers and we will not tolerate any bias towards them.”
The cafe owner and the cafe have gotten a lot of positive feedback following the incident. According to Mashable , there has been a movement to destigmatize breastfeeding in public , which has been gaining momentum in recent months. Many people believe that mothers shouldn’t be judged — or feel ashamed — while feeding their children in public places.
Another breastfeeding story went viral this past weekend. As previously reported by the Inquisitr , a man at a T.G.I. Fridays in Terre Haute, Indiana, took a picture of a mother nursing her child inside the restaurant and posted the photo on social media. The man has been accused of “shaming” the woman, but some people think that he has a point. He was asking if the mother should at least cover up her breast while feeding her child as there were a lot of people around including children. Thoughts?