GRAND PRAIRIE — Brenda Petersen has given birth to five children in nine years.

For the past five years, she's worked off her baby weight at the local YMCA. She says she has nursed her babies at the facility with nary a raised eyebrow — until now.

After all, state law mandates that public places must accomodate nursing mothers.

But Petersen says she was recently asked not to breastfeed in a public area of the Grand Prairie YMCA — and the one place she thought was "all about family" has let her down.

Petersen said she was nursing in the child care area, which had recently been restricted to employees for safety reasons. But Petersen said that restriction was never mentioned when she was kicked out of the area.

“The head supervisor of the child watch area came to me and said if I could nurse in the bathroom," Petersen said, adding that she declined that request.

“She said they'd had some complaints. A child came home and mimicked breastfeeding, and a mom complained and they'd had some other complaints,” Petersen added.

Peterson said she received the same explanation from a manager, who quoted state breastfeeding laws and asked her to be more considerate of other members.

Only later, Petersen said, was the new safety restriction mentioned.

YMCA spokeswoman Sarah Byrom says this is all a huge misunderstanding. “YMCA Metro Dallas has no policy prohibiting nursing in any of our YMCA facilities in any of our areas,” she said.

E-mail mjepson@wfaa.com