the happy homewrecker

Ohio now has legislation addressing breastfeeding in public! The Governor of Ohio signed SB 41 into law on June 14, 2005, which came into effect 90 days later (September 12, 2005):

*Sec. 3781.55*. A mother is entitled to breast-feed her baby in any location of a place of public accommodation wherein the mother otherwise is permitted.

Thanks for Alex to giving me the heads-up about this woman who was asked not to breastfeed her daughter at a Six Flags. I don't get the health code thing. Little kids PEE in that water. I'm sure there's saliva in the water, and I wouldn't be surprised if children occasionally had another kind of accident in there, too. And they're worried about *breastmilk*?

I was browsing the website for the amusement part we're visiting this weekend and found a sentence about nursing that says the park "recognizes that mothers have the right to provide natural nutrition to their children." Yay for enlightened people with common sense when it comes to breastfeeding!

Ohio breastfeeding bill signed into law. Hooray!

Cute breastfeeding cartoon.

So I'm, uh, going to be on the news tonight in Cleveland. A reporter is going to be at my house in 40 minutes to talk to me about the Ohio breastfeeding bill. I volunteered to do it, but WOW am I nervous. I keep having to pee.

The breastfeeding bill passed both the house and the senate and now needs to be signed by the governor. Rumor has it that he's waffling. If you live in Ohio and want to show your support, please call the governor's office at 614-466-3555 and tell whoever picks up that you're calling to support the breastfeeding bill with NO AMENDMENTS (some reps are trying to attach amendments that would basically void the entire thing).

Mr. DeMille? I'm ready for my close-up . . .

Apparently the Ohio breastfeeding bill (TBB) didn't pass, it's being held up in the House. According to an e-mail I just received,

The bill is on hold in the House due to a possible "Discreet Nursing" Amendment, which would attempt to define "appropriate nursing discretion."  Ohio is among only 11 other States that do not offer nursing rights to mothers.  No other States include such a discretion amendment.  Central Ohio mothers in support of TBB will demonstrate that nursing mothers are capable of using good judgment and that the amendment is unnecessary.

If I lived closer to Columbus, I'd be there in a heartbeat.

I don't think I ever wrote about the incident that occurred at the hospital when we took Ginger there after her fall in early January.

Oooh! And this one was in yesterday's paper:

Mother's Milkman: A doctor delivers the bare facts on breastfeeding

Yay! Ohio Senate passes Senate Bill 41, which "requires any place of public accommodation to allow a mother to breast-feed within the place of public accommodation."

It irks me that there even needs to be a bill like this, and I really wish they'd used the word "child" instead of "baby," but . . . small steps, right?