Breastfeeding Controversy at Maplewood Old County Buffet

MAPLEWOOD, Minn. - A mother in Twin Cities says the Old Country Buffet in Maplewood kicked her out for breastfeeding in the restaurant.

On Easter Sunday Bethany Morton says she was breastfeeding her son, Dawson, at Old Country Buffet in Maplewood, when an employee asked her to cover up with a blanket.

“I said, ‘I already have and he won't keep it on and it's not against the law for me to breast feed and you can't make me put a blanket over it’ and she said, I had to and I asked to speak to the manager," said Morton.

When the manager came over, Morton said her fiancé became vocal saying

"If they don't like the breast feeding they can put a blanket over their own head."

Mortan says they were told to leave. An Old Country Buffet spokesperson said, "the couple in question was asked to leave the restaurant because the man became verbally aggressive, not because his fiancée was breastfeeding. Rather, the man’s volume and use of profanity was disturbing our other guests."

Morton said her fiancé was not being belligerent, but that he was sticking up for their rights.

Minnesota state statute says a mother may breastfeed in any location, public or private, where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be, irrespective of whether the nipple of the mother's breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breastfeeding.

So far, more than 1,100 people are Facebook fans on “Boycott Old Country Buffet.”

Morton feels the restaurant should publicly apologize.

"I think they are trying to cover their own butts they don't want to admit they were wrong," said Morton.