Phoebe Wyllyamz, founder of Breastfeeding Means Business, with her daughter.
Phoebe Wyllyamz never set out to be a “lactivist,” the term sometimes applied to those pro-breastfeeding individuals who engage in lactation activism. She simply believed that breastfeeding her baby was the most convenient and healthiest choice for both mom and child. For Wyllyamz, it mattered little if she fed her baby in her own living room, on a public park bench or at a table in a restaurant. She soon discovered, however, that some people don’t feel the same way.
“I was in the Autumn Leaves Bookstore on the Ithaca Commons on a cold and snowy day,” Wyllyamz recounts. “My daughter was crying, I felt she was probably hungry, and she needed soothing, so we sat down to nurse. A moment later, another customer approached us and asked me if I was breastfeeding. When I told her I was, she looked away, as if in disgust, and then she said, ‘Not in public.’”
Although some 44 states in the U.S., including New York, have ratified laws to protect a mother’s right to breastfeed in any public or private place, nursing moms are still routinely disturbed, even harassed, not only by members of the public but often by security personnel who haven’t been adequately trained to understand the law.
Wyllyamz recalls, “It really affected me what happened that day. If there is anything in our culture we should be protecting, that should be sacred, it is a mother nursing her child. After that incident, I started doing a lot of reading on the matter.”
Wyllyamz discovered a section of the New York State civil rights statutes that states, “A mother may breastfeed her baby in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be.” She also found countless news articles detailing the experiences of breastfeeding families who’ve been confronted in restaurants, amusement parks and shopping malls, sometimes by fellow patrons, but other times by the businesses’ employees.
“Although in my case, it was not someone from the store itself that approached me, I got to thinking, if breastfeeding in any public or private place is perfectly legal, then why do so many businesses essentially break the law themselves by telling nursing moms that they either have to cover up, go to a bathroom, or leave entirely? It occurred to me that bringing awareness of the law to these businesses could probably help to avoid a lot of these problems,” Wyllyamz says.
In this way, her new public awareness campaign, Breastfeeding Means Business, was born.
Businesses that display this sign support breastfeeding families.
“We want to create a system that helps companies be made aware of the law and that holds them accountable,” she says. “We’d like them to commit publicly to support breastfeeding families, and we hope to enable families to easily share their experiences, whether positive or negative, so that others may know which are the breastfeeding-friendly businesses in the area, and which are not.”
Wyllyamz is forming a local coalition to support her cause. Partnering with long-standing Ithaca establishments such as Silk Oak, to silk-screen Breastfeeding Means Business T-shirts, and Jillian’s Drawers to help sell such gear, Phoebe also plans to manufacture window stickers for businesses to display as a way to communicate that breastfeeding families are welcome.
She is also talking with local Internet developers to create an online directory of breastfeeding-friendly companies or even an iPhone application that would allow moms on the street to easily view the ratings of nearby establishments or to make their own remarks.
“We want families to know which businesses out there are going to support them and which ones have a reputation for not adhering to the law,” Wyllyamz says. She cites the mobile-device-oriented, location-based phenomena of Foursquare.com as an example, wherein smart-phone users may post comments about any specific geographic location in real time. “If a mom can look at a map on her phone to see which establishments have a reputation for being breastfeeding-friendly, that may help her decide where to shop or have dinner,” she says.
Breastfeeding Means Business made its debut at the recent Ignite Ithaca event at Pixel Lounge, during which Wyllyamz spoke publicly for the first time. The story of her beginnings as a lactivist, told with great humor and sincerity, was received warmly by the audience.
The campaign will take to the streets during the annual Ithaca Festival parade, in which her group of supporters will be marching. “We are looking for pro-nursing moms and families to join us. You can nurse your young ones along the way if you want to. No blankets required,” she says.
As the new venture was taking shape, Wyllyamz decided to revisit its birthplace. “I went back in and talked to the nice people at Autumn Leaves Bookstore. Although they had nothing to do with the woman that approached me, I wanted to speak to owner Joe Wetmore, to see if he would put up a Breastfeeding Means Business sticker in his window, to show that nursing families are welcome there. He gave me two thumbs up,” Wyllyamz says.
For more information contact Phoebe Wyllyamz and Breastfeeding Means Business at http://facebook.com/breastfeedingmeansbusiness or breastfeedingmeansbusiness@gmail.com.
