I am a little perplexed about a situation that occurred with my breastfeeding daughter last night. I am a fairly new lactation consultant and have heard about sit ins at restaurants where breastfeeding women have been asked to leave but what about movie theaters?
Apparently the nationwide movie chain Cinemark has a policy that no children are allowed in R rated movies after 6pm. When my daughter went to a showing of Sex and the City with her sister after 6pm accompanied with her 4month old baby (who she took because he is exclusively breastfed) she was not allowed in. She explained that she left her other two children under 6 years old at home with a babysitter but the infant was breastfed they told her they were sorry but that is the corporate company policy. I am furious and do not understand why we treat our breastfeeding mothers this way.
I called Cinemark's headquarters in Texas and attempted to explain how this was despicable and received a call back from a regional manager who simply said crying babies are a distraction and this is their policy. It doesn't matter if they are breastfeeding. Children over 6 years are welcome but breastfeeding babies are not! My daughter found a local theatre ran by Ultrastar who allowed her and her baby in and she was able to see her movie while my grandson slept and nursed when he woke. He did not cry or make a distraction.
I wish that I could shout from the roof top that Cinemark theatres is not the "best seat in town". They discriminate against the babies that we work so hard to protect. They are the largest movie chain in the US. I am so sad that we allow this kind of behavior to happen. Looking for suggestions to stop this and to bring awareness. Calls to the corporation telling them I won't be bringing them my business seemed to fall on deaf ears.
Cathy Stephens-Croel RN BSN IBCLC
Apple Valley CA
-----Original Message-----
From: LACTNET automatic digest system <[log in to unmask]>
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Sent: Thu, May 27, 2010 9:00 pm
Subject: LACTNET Digest - 27 May 2010 (#2010-436)
There are 3 messages totaling 166 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. exam silence
2. IBLCE exam and breastfeeding (2)
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Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 19:43:03 -0400
rom: Teresa Pitman <[log in to unmask]>
ubject: exam silence
Not all exams are given in absolute silence. I work part-time at a
niversity where one of my sons and my daughter attended. Some exams are
pen book, and these are often quite noisy as people shuffle through pages,
ut some on the floor and pick up others, etc. Even in the closed-book ones,
here's always some noise: maintenance going on, people walking past, birds
utside the windows. To me, baby noises are no worse than any of these other
ounds.
Teresa
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Date: Fri, 28 May 2010 09:43:34 +1000
rom: Karleen Gribble <[log in to unmask]>
ubject: Re: IBLCE exam and breastfeeding
Indeed Norma. And I would think that anyone who objected to a baby being
round because it was "distracting" or "annoying" perhaps is not well suited
o being a lactation consultant. I recall overhearing a family and child
ealth nurse complain at a seminar about the presence of young children
long the lines of "we have to be around children all day at work and then
ere as well- sheesh"- I think that this woman had a problem with her career
hoice.
s to the discussion around women in the military, many of us outside of the
S just can't get the justification of barbaric practices. It's like looking
t traditions in other times or places that sanctioned rape within marriage
nd saying "suck it up, you chose it- that's how it is." It just seems
nconceivable.
arleen Gribble
ustralia
----Original Message-----
rom: Lactation Information and Discussion
mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Norma Ritter
ent: Friday, 28 May 2010 1:20 AM
o: [log in to unmask]
ubject: Re: [LACTNET] IBLCE exam and breastfeeding
I find it interesting that the public perception of breastfeeding is that it
s not a normal activity but a *special circumstance.*
I find it even more interesting that this perception seems to be true even
f the IBLCE, the examining body of lactation consultants.
If our profession does not recognise the normality of a woman breastfeeding,
ow can we expect others to do so? This applies not only to sitting for
xams, but also to conference attendance. Nursing mothers are effectively
xcluded from attending many breastfeeding conferences because their
on-separating children are not welcomed. The argument is that *We paid good
oney for this conference and do not want to be distracted by babies.*
Am I the only one who sees the irony in that?
Norma Ritter, IBCLC, RLC
reastfeeding Matters in the Capital Region
ww.NormaRitter.com
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iews:
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Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 20:26:38 -0600
rom: Bernshaw <[log in to unmask]>
ubject: Re: IBLCE exam and breastfeeding
I am afraid you hit it right on the nail.
One thing I have not been able to understand yet is how women have
aken so easily to bottle feeding. I often ask myself, Is women's
iology a burden on women as well? Given our Western culture and the
ressure that it causes around the world, can women truly fit in this
ulture without making herculean efforts to follow their biological
alling?
Nicole Bernshaw, MSc, IBCLC
n May 27, 2010, at 12:47 PM, Norma Ritter wrote:
> Nicole wrote:
> Given that we, lactation consultants, are at the forefront of the
> movement toward breastfeeding as the norm, it behooves us to
understand and explain (through research?) why we use the same
anti-baby arguments as the corporate world. If my hunch is correct,
biology and culture do not blend harmoniously.<
Then we just have to face the facts.
We can't change biology, but we can change culture.
Oh.
Wait.
Isn't that what happened when we got commercial infant formulas and
bottles?
Norma Ritter, IBCLC, RLC
Breastfeeding Matters in the Capital Region
www.NormaRitter.com
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