Breast-feeding mom puts school in place

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Feb. 17 (UPI) -- A mother in St. Petersburg, Fla., has won her battle to breast-feed her infant son while visiting her daughter at elementary school.

Alicia Norris said she was feeding her 19-month-old son while eating lunch with one of her two other children who attend Rio Vista Elementary School last October when school officials told her she was forbidden from doing so on school property, the St. Petersburg Times reported Sunday.

Norris said being criticized for simply feeding her infant child while visiting the school left her feeling "degraded."

"I've been nursing three children for nine years and I've never felt like that before," she told the Times. "I have never been asked to stop. I think this shows a lack of education in an educational environment."

There was some letter-writing and checking of state law and school board rules. When all was said and done, Norris' nursing was found to conform with Florida law and the school's principal acquiesced.

For her part, Norris says she just wants school officials and others to know it's OK to nurse in public.