"There is no law that says I can’t breastfeed and drink:" Mother's Labor Day outing turns into social media mess!



CHESAPEAKE, VIRGINIA (WITI) -- A Labor Day outing for dinner and drinks at a bar & grill in Chesapeake, Virginia has turned into a social media mess!

FOX6's sister station, NewsChannel3 in Norfolk, Virginia says customers at "Big Woody's" bar & grill complained after a mom was seen with a shot and a beer while breastfeeding inside the restaurant.

When a manager confronted the woman -- the incident blew up on Facebook, with Big Woody's being accused of being a business "unfriendly to breastfeeding moms."

The mother, named Crystal, took to Facebook -- claiming Big Woody's gave her the boot because she bared her breast to feed her baby.

Big Woody's manager says it was less about the breastfeeding -- and more about feeding the baby while also consuming alcohol.

“It’s not easy to go and talk to someone and say you’re breastfeeding but you’re drinking too,” the restaurant's manager told WTKR.

Crystal admits to having the alcohol -- but she says she wasn't planning on drinking it until after she was done nursing.

“I had a huge water I was downing. I had a beer and a shot of Fireball in front of me but that was for after I was done. And I had one sip of beer and I’m not planning on the rest until after I’m done nursing," Crystal told WTKR.

WTKR reports most of the posts made to the restaurant's Facebook page are about the rights of mothers to breastfeed. Not much is mentioned about the objections the patrons made about seeing the mother with alcohol.

“I said there is no law that says I can’t breastfeed and drink. I’m not doing anything wrong, and he then proceeded to say, 'you know what -- it’s also my right to refuse service. I’m going to be cashing you guys out. You can leave,'” Crystal told WTKR.

“I would like to see this be turned around and end up being positive. We’re willing to sit down and talking with them and see if we can turn this around and see if we can make something positive – on educating people on how to breastfeed in public. Because again, we don’t have a problem breastfeeding in public. Women are allowed to breastfeed in here," the restaurant's manager told WTKR.



CLICK HERE for more on this story via WTKR.