Video of nurse-in at Kingston Target on Wednesday, December 28 by YouTube user mamakating.
When Texas mom Michelle Hickman was hassled in her local Target store for breastfeeding her infant, she turned to breastfeeding advocates who helped organize a nationwide "nurse-in" using social media. New Paltz lactation consultant Donna Bruschi picked up the ball locally and coordinated an event at the Kingston Target store, which drew about two dozen moms and a dad to the store's cafe area last Wednesday morning.
Official Target policy states that nursing mothers are welcome in all public and private areas of the store, leaving breastfeeding advocates puzzled as to why individual employees at various stores have raised a fuss on several reported occasions in the past several years. Bruschi praised the cooperation she got from management at the Hudson Valley Mall location, and passers-by seemed more supportive than not.
The event's coverage by Mid-Hudson News was picked up by the Kingston Freeman, on whose website it generated a discussion 40 comments long -- a testament, perhaps, to the slow news week between holidays, the cuteness of moms and their tots, the "controversial" nature of the female breast, or perhaps all of the above. Apparently the endorsement of every major health organization in the world is not enough to soothe the ire of some parties on the titillating subject of "militant" mamas.
Due to an editing error, we originally captioned the video above as "December 8," not "December 28." Thanks to the eagle-eyed Mark Lerner for spotting the typo.
