— A Clayton woman in Johnston County court for some traffic tickets says she was kicked out while she was breastfeeding her baby in a sling.

Danielle Bell said she was breastfeeding 3-month-old Penelope in the back of the courtroom last week as she waited for her traffic court case to be called. A deputy told her to leave, saying no children under 12 were allowed in the courtroom, she said.

Bell said she left, even though state and federal laws permit women to breastfeed in public facilities and she and the baby had been covered up by a sling.

"I felt discriminated against," she said Monday. "This is the way she survives – by breastfeeding – because she refuses a bottle."

She said she left Penelope with her husband in the hallway when she returned to the courtroom to speak with District Court Judge Resson Faircloth about her case. She said Faircloth told her not to bring the baby again.

"If leave her home, she's unable to eat," Bell said she told the judge. "He then replied to me that was not his problem and that, if I had any other excuse, he was going to take her that day and have me put in contempt."

Faircloth told her he would put the baby in the custody of Child Protective Services, she said.

"That's when I walked out of the courtroom crying," she said. "I definitely have fear of going back to the courthouse. I am worried about the consequences that will happen."

Faircloth and Johnston County Chief District Court Judge Jackie Lee both declined to comment on Bell's allegations.

WRAL News reached out to judges in other counties, who said the no-children-under-12 rule is meant to keep children from hearing inappropriate things in the courtroom and to minimize disruption. Several of them said the judge has discretion, and in this case, they would have allowed Bell to stay.

Bell is due back in court May 20.