Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Ronald McDonald House Tells Mom, "You can breastfeed, but..."

While I am glad Jessica Swimeley and her family will be able to remain at the Holcombe Ronald McDonald House in Houston, the resolution to this story is yet another disappointment. Dictating to mothers about how they may breastfeed is condescending. Telling them to warn others before nurseing, yet be discreet about how they nurse, is contradictory to say the least. A roomful of grownups came up with this? It's as silly as the stuff my four-year-old and her friends come up with!

Jessica and her sister Melanie want the Board of Directors of RMH Houston to adopt a policy that supports and protects all breastfeeding families that stay at its facilities and ensure that no other families experience the shaming and thinly veiled threats they experienced. They're asking for your help. Start by sending a letter to

Deborah Gibson
President, RMH Board of Directors
Ronald McDonald House-Houston
1907 Holcombe Boulevard
Houston, TX 77030

And a carbon copy of your letter to RMH HQ:

Ronald McDonald House Charities
One Kroc Drive
Oak Brook, IL 60523

You can also email the Attorney General of Texas Greg Abbott and urge him to look into this matter, as the RMH policy to tell mothers to breastfeeding in private appears to be a violation of Texas law.

If you're from Texas, take a moment to use this form to send a letter of support for the bill meant to strengthen your states breastfeeding in public statute.

5 comments:

tanya@motherwearblog said...

Hi there!

Have been lurking on your blog for a while and just wanted to thank you for covering this story so well! I'm linking to your blog so my readers can get the full story.

- Tanya (motherwear breastfeeding blog: http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com)

Chris said...

Thanks for the kind words and link, Tanya!

Anonymous said...

I agree with Tanya. Thanks for being so thorough. I linked to you as well.

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for keeping us updated! I would also like to add that we need to show the RMH that this is unacceptable. By letting their corporate sponsors know of their anti nursing stance.

Chris said...

Hey, Colleen--Thank you for your great blog. I've been meaning to buy your book for some and have finally added it to my Amazon cart.