Despite August being Breastfeeding Awareness Month, an Oregon mom was recently told she had to stop breastfeeding while at a local dentist’s office. Kalee Kellough, 31, was allegedly told to stop breastfeeding while she was sitting in a patient room with her five-year-old daughter and baby. As a result, she is suing the Willamette Dental Group, located in Bend, Oregon.
Kalee began breastfeeding her 16-month-old son while she and her daughter waited for the dentist to arrive. According to the lawsuit, Dr. Matthew Haehlen came in while she was breastfeeding. He left the patient room and shortly thereafter a female office manager came in to tell Kalee the dentist would not see her daughter if Kalee remained in the room.
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Kalee assumed that they wanted her to leave because her daughter was getting a tooth pulled and the procedure required numbing gas. However, the office manager told her it was because she was breastfeeding.
Kalee did not want to leave her daughter by herself. She was later forced to leave the dentist’s office.
Oregon Mom Sues Dentist Who Told Her to Stop Breastfeeding and Kicked Her Out of the Office
“I’m really curious which would be more distracting: a screaming baby or a nursing baby?” she told The Oregonian. “I would think a screaming baby, rather than a baby who nurses for comfort.”
Kalee is suing the dental practice for violating Oregon law which allows people to breastfeed in public, as well as for discrimination based on her sex.
Kalee told KGW News, “Us moms have enough anxiety going out with our toddlers anywhere, so the fact that we have to worry about whether we have to feed them without dirty looks, without shame, without all the negative connotations that come with it — it’s really just mind-boggling to me that we even deal with this in this day and age.”