http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-
pbertucci21apr21,0,3523245.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

http://tinyurl.com/35taaj

(My mother-in-law, who often asks how long I plan to keep nursing my 16 mo, 
alerted me to this - maybe it's a signal of support after all?)

Diana Graham, MD
en route from NYC to Raleigh


here's the full article:
Breastfeeding mom booted from popular Boca Raton restaurant

By Nancy L. Othón 
South Florida Sun-Sentinel 
Posted April 21 2007 

 
As 5-month-old Marcello nestled at her breast under a blanket, and the rest of 
Simone Bertucci's family enjoyed dinner at Houston's restaurant this week, a 
restaurant manager interrupted the meal with a startling order: Bertucci must 
leave while she was nursing.

The demand was not only contrary to Florida law, but humiliating for Bertucci 
and especially disruptive, as the family was celebrating her oldest son's 13th 
birthday.
 
"You're kidding," Bertucci recalled saying to the manager of the restaurant on 
Executive Center Circle, Boca Raton. "I was shocked and humiliated."

Bertucci's husband, Anthony, immediately wanted to leave, but she insisted 
that the family finish their meal. Unaware of her rights, Bertucci searched for 
an alternate place to nurse Marcello and ended up in her car.

"I want an apology, a public apology," Bertucci said. "If it happened to me, it's 
going to happen again and again."

The next day, she called her attorney and friend Andrew Smith, who then 
contacted the restaurant and advised Bertucci to document the incident in a 
police report.

"What you have here is almost an archaic, puritanistic approach to what's 
really a natural and human function," Smith said.

Glenn Viers, vice president and general counsel of the Beverly Hills-based 
Hillstone Restaurant Group, which owns Houston's, sent a letter to Smith on 
Friday with the company's apology to the Bertuccis and an invitation for them 
to return.

"We mishandled the situation and we very much regret it," Viers said. "I can't 
un-ring a bell. I've got three kids and my wife breastfed. Stuff happens. We're 
human, we make mistakes and we strive not to."

If any good can be derived from the incident, Viers said, it will be that 
awareness about nursing moms will be heightened.

"I think that when we are doing our management training, we'll give this a little 
more attention than perhaps it's received in the past," he said. "There's not a 
person in my company today that doesn't have an understanding of what the 
rights of breastfeeding moms are in the United States."

The Hillstone group also operates a Houston's in Pompano Beach, North Miami 
Beach and Coral Gables and the Palm Beach Grill in Palm Beach.

Florida law recognizes that breastfeeding "is an important and basic act of 
nurture which must be encouraged in the interests of maternal and child 
health and family values." A mother may legally breastfeed her baby 
anywhere -- public or private. The law gets even more detailed, specifically 
stating that a mother may breastfeed "irrespective of whether the nipple of 
the mother's breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breastfeeding."

Bertucci said she could feel the stare of one patron as she nursed Marcello. A 
modest woman and mother of three who is breastfeeding for the first time, 
Bertucci said she always takes a blanket to cover up but she could sense a 
disapproving vibe from a nearby table. She guesses the woman at the table 
could be the patron who complained about her.

Mary Lofton, a spokeswoman for the breastfeeding advocacy group La Leche 
League International, said her organization fields occasional complaints about 
these incidents, but it doesn't keep statistics.

Last week, a mother in Texas got into a dispute over breastfeeding her son in 
the lounge of the Ronald McDonald House in Houston. Last year, a woman was 
removed from a Delta Air Lines flight in Vermont because she was 
breastfeeding her baby.

Despite the fact that about 70 percent of women now breastfeed their 
newborns compared with 50 percent in 1990, not everyone can come to terms 
with public breastfeeding because of a cultural bias that began after infant 
formula was introduced in the 1920s, Lofton said.

The bias, Lofton thinks, doesn't necessarily come from the exposure of the 
breast as much as it is that the child is being fed at the breast.

"We try to be very understanding and sensitive to this," Lofton said. "We talk 
to [new mothers] about discreet nursing."

Lofton said progress is being made, but incidents like the one at Houston's are 
evidence that not everyone is comfortable with public breastfeeding.

The mishap has caused Bertucci to second-guess herself when she's out with 
her baby. She's at Disney World for the weekend and now wonders whether 
she'll feel comfortable nursing Marcello outside their hotel room.

"I'm still shaken over it," she said. "I don't want this to happen to anybody 
else in any Houston's, in any restaurant."

Bertucci is not yet sure whether she'll return to Houston's. But if she does, 
she'll probably be taking Marcello.

Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.

Nancy L. Othón can be reached at [log in to unmask] or 561-228-
5502. 

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