Breastfeeding is recommended by doctors everywhere.
Recommended, but not always well-received in public. Mother Conner Kendall found herself at the center of an online controversy after breastfeeding her son at a TGI Fridays.
A stranger posted a photo of her breastfeeding, asking if doing that was appropriate. Kendall posted a screen shot of the photo along with a lengthy response.
"Shock. That was my initial response. ... I really didn't feel like I was that exposed. ... It really hurt my feelings that somebody would try and shame me for just taking care of my child," Kendall said on ABC.
Kendall has not revealed the name of the person who she says shamed her publicly, although in her private response back to the person, she said it was her federal right to breastfeed wherever she pleases.
She's right. The National Conference of State Legislatures says 49 states, including Indiana where Kendall lives, "have laws that specifically allow women to breastfeed in any public or private location."
Kendall told People she had no idea her response would reach people all over the world. She said 90 percent of the responses to her have been positive. And surprisingly, the many negatives she gets are from women, some of them other moms.
She told us via Facebook chat she's mostly told to cover up, or that their children don't want to see her breasts. She says it could be a generational thing because it's mostly middle-aged women who are critical of her.
In her response to the person who started the controversy, Kendall wrote: "I did nothing wrong, I turned away to latch my son and pulled my shirt back up when he was finished. ... I do not use a cover, because my son fights them, screams, and doesn't eat at all while under them."
The American Academy of Pediatrics says breastfeeding is beneficial to baby, protecting him or her from a variety of diseases, and also good for mama, decreasing postpartum bleeding and decreasing the risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
This video includes images from Getty Images.
