CAROL LAWRENCE, THE GAZETTE Daniele Tobey, left, breast-feeds her daughter Aurora, 7 months old, Thursday morning at Acacia Park as part of the “nurse-in.” She’s joined by other women from Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

They sat on benches and chairs around the Uncle Wilber Fountain downtown, breast-feeding in unison.

Some covered themselves with a light blanket while others nursed openly.

“This is the first time I’ve had any skin showing — ever — in public,” Kimberly Sudol said after 12-week-old Kaden got his fill.

About a dozen moms and their children braved the morning drizzle in a show of solidarity for a northern Colorado woman who was ticketed last month for breast-feeding her son at a lake in Larimer County.

“I can’t even describe how upset I was over it,” Sudol said of the ticket issued by a park ranger. “It’s the best thing you can do for your child.”

Colorado law is on the nursing mother’s side. Breasting is legal in public; the ticket given to Dorian Ryan of Berthoud was dismissed.

Laurel Turner, a mother of two who also came to Thursday’s “nurse-in” in Colorado Springs, thinks the public has become more accepting of breast-feeding.

Strangers generally smile at her when they notice she’s nursing, she said. One couple at a restaurant gave her a small gift — a figurine of a mother and child.

“I think people are realizing the health benefits,” said Turner, who is on vacation in Colorado Springs from Florida and heard about the nurse-in on the radio.

Health experts recommend women breast-feed for at least six months.

She and others, however, also report receiving ugly looks and comments.

“One time we were in a restaurant and the manager asked my friend to ask me to tone down the breast-feeding. I don’t know how you do that,” Turner said.

Daniele Tobey said a man in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles told her to cover herself as she nursed her infant daughter, Aurora.

“I was horrified. I turned my back. I couldn’t even comment,” Tobey said. “It’s sad in our culture the most natural and fundamental actions are looked down upon.”

The nurse-in, promoted by local radio station KVUU-FM 99.9, coincided with World Breast-feeding Week.

KVUU shielded the women from the rain with a tent and had a little on-air fun with the topic.

“So ladies, whenever you’re ready! And go!” said Darren McKee, co-host of the station’s morning show.

“It looks like all the children have latched on,” he reported before joking: “I can see why this is so disturbing!”

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0236 or cary@gazette.com

THE GAZETTE