On Saturday morning, about a half-dozen mothers with young children took their displeasure to the steps of Ball Square Cafe, where they demonstrated by nursing their babies on the sidewalk as restaurant patrons ate breakfast at outdoor tables.

The owner later backtracked, saying his human resources department told him Massachusetts law permits breastfeeding in public places, the Facebook post said. But for some mothers, the about-face was too little, too late.

SOMERVILLE — It started with a social media post published Friday in a Facebook group for local parents and caregivers. A mother with a newborn boy wrote that the owner of Ball Square Cafe in Somerville told her she had to stop nursing her baby inside the restaurant.


“It made me sad that someone would judge a mom for feeding her child and taking care of her child, and that a business owner would treat her in that way,” said Rachael Gallagher, 33, who organized the demonstration and brought her newborn son to the event.

Mike Moccia, co-owner and manager of the restaurant, declined to comment Saturday, citing the advice of a lawyer. The Facebook post identified him as the person who confronted the mother Friday.

The Globe on Saturday couldn’t confirm who wrote the post. Identifying information about the author had been removed from the post, and Gallagher said she wasn’t authorized to disclose writer’s name.

In 2015, Ball Square Cafe was included on a list of “toddler-friendly” breakfast spots in Somerville and Cambridge on the website Boston Moms Blog.

Nursing mothers in Massachusetts have been able to breastfeed their babies in public without fear of being prosecuted for indecent exposure or lewd conduct since 2009, when legislation making clear that the practice is not illegal was enacted.

Thursday marked the beginning of World Breastfeeding Week, a campaign sponsored by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action.


Lorelei Kluever, 36, brought her 1-year-old daughter to the protest.

“I’ve eaten here in the past, and I won’t come here again,” she said.

Kluever, a labor organizer, brought a sign to the demonstration reading, “DON’T BE A JERK; SUPPORT NURSING MOMS.”

Another demonstrator, Ivy Peters, 35, said she was disturbed by the nursing mother’s account of her visit to Ball Square Cafe.

“The words used were just really harsh,” said Peters, who was there with her 2-year-old son. “It’s just deeply misogynistic how a breastfeeding mom is compared to a topless girl.”

Peters said she’s never been confronted about nursing in public and was provided with a hospital-grade breast pump and private nursing room by her employer, JRNI, a software company in Boston.

“I just nursed wherever I wanted,” she said.

Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @lauracrimaldi.