Breast-Feeding in Restaurants

I am appalled at Judge Richard Wells’ decision in favor of Cafe Rodeo’s policy against allowing women to breast-feed their infants at their tables (“Judge Rules for Cafe in Suit Over Breast-Feeding,” Metro, June 30).

There is something fundamentally wrong with a society which allows smoking in public, which medical experts agree can only be harmful to everyone involved (the smoker and all those nearby), but does not allow breast-feeding in public, which medical experts agree can only be beneficial to everyone involved (the mother and child).

People who feel squeamish about the sight of a woman discreetly nourishing her child in the most healthful, natural and loving manner possible should remember that throughout history, women have nursed their children, and it is only in a rare society that breast-feeding is not openly accepted. Most of the people who object to the sight of nursing were probably themselves nursed as infants; up until a few decades ago almost all children were breast-fed. Virtually all of the great philosophers, prophets, religious leaders, military rulers, scientists and regents through the ages were breast-fed as babies. Why should we stop utilizing this wonderful and natural means of nourishment--after all, why do women have breasts?

JULIA GUROFF

Duarte