Posted on 11/14/2006 8:23:51 PM PST by ellery
BURLINGTON, Vt. --A New Mexico woman has complained that she was kicked off an airplane about to leave Burlington International Airport because she was breast-feeding her baby.
A complaint against two airlines was filed with the Vermont Human Rights, although Executive Director Robert Appel said he was barred by state law from confirming the complaint. He did say state law allows a mother to breast-feed in public.
Elizabeth Boepple, a lawyer hired by 27-year-old mother Emily Gillette, confirmed that Gillette filed the complaint late last week against Delta Air Lines and Freedom Airlines. Freedom was operating the Delta commuter flight between Burlington and New York City.
A Freedom spokesman said Gillette was asked to leave the flight after she declined a flight attendant's offer of a blanket.
"A breast-feeding mother is perfectly acceptable on an aircraft, providing she is feeding the child in a discreet way," that doesn't bother others, said Paul Skellon, spokesman for Phoenix-based Freedom. "She was asked to use a blanket just to provide a little more discretion, she was given a blanket, and she refused to use it, and that's all I know."
Gillette, her husband Brad and their daughter River, who live in New Mexico, had been visiting relatives in Vermont. Their flight was three hours late but appeared to be preparing for takeoff Oct. 13 when Gillette decided to breast-feed her 22-month-old, she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Well, if they looked like big bombs, if you know what I mean...
22 months?
Good point.
I hope I don't offend some of the moms around here but that's a toddler. At two, most kids can at least drink out of a sippy cup.
"First of all why would she refuse to use a blanket. That becomes obvious she is out to cause trouble. Second of all an airplane is not public it is private property and what they say goes."
When I breastfed it was impossible to use a blanket.
It made me sweat - it made the baby sweat - we both were a sweaty slippery mess when it was over.
There are tops that can be worn where it is possible to breastfeed without exposing the whole breast, and the baby covers up most of the breast too.
women can never win. If the baby cried the whole flight, everyone would have been glaring at her, wondering why she didn't try to calm the baby.
Excuse me? 22 months old? And still breast feeding?
It's private. It's not sexual but it is good manners to drape.
Don't you think breast feeding that late is a little odd though..I mean 22 months?
This is basically a 2-year-old child. And puhleeze, some sort of cover-up is perfectly reasonable in public. I nursed my kids, but always found a way to do it inconspicuously.
"Don't you think breast feeding that late is a little odd though..I mean 22 months?"
A child at this age may still want to breastfeed as a comfort - or right before going to sleep.
Maybe the child is drinking other fluids, but mom could have been trying to soothe the baby for the flight.
Beat me too it, the woman was a kook.
22 months?? My kids were eating cheeseburgers by then. Can't drape so that the folks next to you don't have to be in the thick of things? I think this lady was spoiling for a legal battle for some quick cash.
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