Town worker calls cops on woman breastfeeding daughter

Town worker calls cops on woman breastfeeding daughter.

Cops were called on a New Jersey mother who was breastfeeding her 2-year-old daughter at a town lake because she refused to “cover up” — even though she’s permitted by law to nurse her kid in public.

Michelle Ayala was enjoying a day in the sun on Tuesday with her three kids at Franklin Pond in Franklin when she opted to nurse her youngest child on the beach, the New Jersey Herald reported.

But that’s when borough employee Donna Vreeland came over and asked her to “do it somewhere else,” Ayala said.

Ayala refused.

“I told her that legally, I can nurse wherever I am, so I am going to stay here,” she said.

In New Jersey, mothers are permitted by law to breastfeed in public places.

Vreeland allegedly called the cops on the mom of three, telling them it was “for a woman who was breastfeeding her baby and who refused to cover up,” Franklin police spokesman Detective Nevin Mattessich told the Herald.

Officer Nick Della Fera responded — and sided with Ayala because she had broken no laws.

She thanked the officer, but was still upset over the incident.

“I just think it’s a normal, natural thing, nursing a child — whether she’s 1, or 2, or newborn — and I don’t think it’s offensive,” the 36-year-old told NJ.com.

Afterward, Ayala, whose other children are ages 7 and 8, got a visit from Franklin Borough Administrator Alison McHose.

McHose told her she supported breastfeeding but asked Ayala to cover up while doing so at the beach.

“I told her, ‘Alison, my daughter is 2. I will not cover up,’” Ayala said. Her daughter, she said, would try to push off any cover anyway.

“She said they had to instill rules. She said, ‘We just want you to cover up’?” Ayala added. “I said I had the right to nurse here.”

Ayala said the same amount of her breast is exposed while breastfeeding as it is in a halter top.

In a statement to the Herald, McHose acknowledged that the “borough is aware of the laws concerning breastfeeding.”

“We regret the situation made any of the guests feel uncomfortable and are using this as an opportunity to remind all involved of a woman’s right to breastfeed under New Jersey law,” she wrote.