DeKALB, Ill. -- About 40 mothers, a smaller group of fathers and a horde of babies and toddlers gathered Thursday on a downtown DeKalb, Ill., sidewalk in a "nurse-in" to protest a merchant who they say asked a breast-feeding mother to stop feeding her child in his shop.
But only one of them -- 26-year-old Sarena Yeager -- was actually breast-feeding in public.
Nichole Eidsmoe, 21, of DeKalb said she was breast-feeding her 11-month-old daughter Izrael on Tuesday at the No Strings Attached resale store when the owner leaned over his counter and asked that she "do that" in another store, outside or simply stop.
Eidsmoe, her fiance John Ehle, 24, and baby left the shop -- which sells mostly movies, video games and CDs.
"Education is the main reason for all this," said Eidsmoe, holding Izrael over her chest with a wrap.
Shop owner John Rapp argued that he did not ask her to leave, but that he suggested she not breast feed in his property in the future.
"I support breast-feeding but I just think there's a time and place," Rapp said.
The group who coordinated the protest call themselves Crunchy Moms of DeKalb. The women meet once a week and discuss topics mostly about natural alternatives to child-raising. Several organizers passed out literature about Illinois' breast-feeding statute.
Under the "Right to Breastfeed Act," a mother may breast-feed her baby in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be," according to what is written in the Crunchy Mom fliers.
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