Mom, Gym Owner Locked in Battle over Breastfeeding

A “furious” south suburban mom claims she was shamed for breastfeeding in public at a Mokena gymnastics facility, but the owner says the employee who asked her to move was simply following a company policy that prohibits parents from entering the gym area.

Brittany Ulaszek, of Orland Park, was attending a child’s birthday party with her daughter when she slipped inside an empty gym at Gym Kinetics, settled onto a mat and began breastfeeding her 4-month-old daughter.

Then the trouble started, Ulaszek said.

By her account, she had been feeding her child for more than 15 minutes when an employee approached and instructed her to move into the lobby or a different area upstairs to continue. A mother of four and former Olympic-level gymnast, Ulaszek offered to cover herself even though she believes doing so “freaks the baby out.” Still, the employee insisted she leave the gym.

“So with no other option I took her off my boob and wrapped her in my sweater because the lobby was very chilly —that day it was 4 degrees outside—and people were coming in and out of the door,” Ulaszek told Patch.

Frustrated, she left her name and number at the desk and asked the owner to call her, and then she took to social media to express her discontent.

“I am letting everyone locally know that GYM KINETICS does NOT support public breast feeding,” she wrote on a local community Facebook page.

That’s simply not the case, owner Jim Fredrickson responds. It’s not an issue of Ulaszek’s breastfeeding at the facility, but instead one of where she chose to do so. Parents are not allowed inside the gyms, he stated, specifying safety and insurance risks to the children and the parents.

“Many of you that have been or are currently part of our program have fed their babies in our facility,” Fredrickson wrote on the gym’s Facebook page. “I have never, nor has my staff ever in 30 years said that this is not allowed, frowned upon or even commented on. We have a facilty that caters to children and understands the needs of young mothers.”

Fredrickson said he has been dismayed by the backlash brought on by the social media post.

“We have young ladies, women, all the time breastfeeding their kids in the lobby, or upstairs, or in a more private place,” he told Patch. ”In 30 years, there has never been a derogatory comment made about women breastfeeding.”

Parents are prohibited from entering the gym, Fredrickson said, for the safety of children and for liability purposes. His insurance policy requires that only parents who are participating in parent-tot exercise classes be allowed inside, he said.

“It has nothing to do with breastfeeding whatsoever,” he told Patch. “Regardless of whether it’s birthday parties or lessons, we don’t want parents in the gyms for the kids’ safety.”

He was quick to clarify that he is “confident that this young lady posed no threat to any of our children participating in our program at that time; however, if we ever get a little relaxed on a policy that helps keep our students safe then shame on us.”

Ulaszek doesn’t buy his response, retorting that she and other parents were inside the gym during the birthday party. Fredrickson said that’s not unusual in a case like the party. The birthday host is allowed in the gym, and “once in a while, another parent might be in there.

“I’m in the kid business, I don’t try to piss anybody off,” he said. “We’ve got a good name out there. I try to do everything I can.

“I have people breastfeeding all the time. She gave her alternatives. It doesn’t excuse the fact that I can’t have parents in the gym.”

Ulaszek turned to social media to rally breastfeeding supporters.

“This is ILLEGAL! Anyone in for a nurse in?!” one commenter wrote.

“BREASTS ARE FOR FEEDING CHILDREN. That is why we have them,” said another.

“How awful! I breastfed all my babies and never experienced something like this,” said another mom. “I’m very sorry you went through that.”

Moms are also speaking up on behalf of Gym Kinetics.

“I consider myself a breast-feeding advocate. I have nursed all three of my children anywhere and everywhere, uncovered,” wrote supporter Kalie Ebel. “I have never once felt unwelcome nursing my child at GymKinetics. On the contrary I have always felt comfortable and confident nursing my son in the lobby almost once a week for the past year. Matters like this are rarely so black-and-white. I would like to encourage people not to be so quick to throw an establishment under the bus, nor to blame the mother. It was an unfortunate incident, one I am sure both parties involved wish hadn’t happened. I am not choosing a side, just choosing to share my personal positive experience.”

Jennifer Berner, a mother of three children who take lessons at the gym, also spoke of her positive experience.

“The gym has always been supportive and accommodating of my needs,” wrote Berner. “I have spent hours sitting on the red benches in the lobby, with pure chaos of children and parents hustling in and out while nursing. Sometimes, you would even find me sitting on the top of the bench chairs nursing so I can get a better view in the window of my participating child.

“At no time ever, even when my daughter is the only child in the gym, have I been allowed to enter past the wooden doors, unless I am PARTICIPATING in a class/activity with one of my younger children (and they are very strict on that rule.)“

The policy works, Fredrickson said, as “with 1,500-2,000 who come through the facility in a week, we’ve never had an incident that put a kid in danger.”

Ulaszek told Fredrickson she intends to pursue legal action.