Mom Says She Was Kicked Out of a Restaurant for Breastfeeding. Now, She’s Hoping Her Experience Will Create More ‘Empathy’ 

Aris Smith Kopiec says she was trying to enjoy a weekend vacation with her family when she experienced a confrontation she didn’t expect.

In November, Smith Kopiec traveled to Blue Ridge, Ga., with her husband and their three children — ages 4 months, 2, and 4. During the trip, the family ate at Toccoa Riverside Restaurant, where they were seated on an enclosed porch at a corner table with family friends.

She says her children were calm throughout the meal, coloring, playing with stickers, and stringing beads, leaving their seats only for bathroom breaks. At one point, her 4-month-old became fussy.

“My husband handed her to me, and I latched her on,” Smith Kopiec recalls. “My husband then handed me a blanket to cover. I was seated with my back facing the rest of the restaurant. After a short time, my baby fell asleep and I continued holding her, no longer nursing.”

After the group finished eating, Smith Kopiec and a friend took the kids outside to look at the nearby river. As she stood up, she says she bumped into a chair or someone nearby and turned to apologize — and that’s when, she claims, the restaurant owner approached her.

“At that moment, the restaurant owner was standing over me and began yelling, saying, ‘You can’t do that here. Go to the corner,’ ” she says. “I told him I was not actively breastfeeding at that moment, but he continued yelling that breastfeeding was not allowed and that he needed to ‘protect his restaurant.’ ”

“I explained that I was trying to exit through the side door, but he was blocking the doorway,” Smith Kopiec continues. “He eventually moved aside and said, ‘Good, go on.’ ”

A representative for the restaurant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Outside, Smith Kopiec says it became clear to her that she had been confronted because she was breastfeeding. She told her friend what happened, and the two went back inside to gather their belongings and reconnect with their husbands, who were paying the bill. Smith Kopiec says their husbands told them that, while the women were outside, another employee approached to apologize.

As the group headed toward the front entrance, Smith Kopiec says she saw the owner again and decided to address what had happened.

She says she approached him calmly and told him breastfeeding is legally protected in Georgia, adding that if he wanted to protect his business, he should follow the law. According to Smith Kopiec, his response was hostile.

“He became increasingly aggressive,” she claims, saying he repeatedly insisted he didn’t have to allow breastfeeding and that it was not his responsibility to “raise my children.”

Under Georgia law, “a mother may breastfeed her baby in any location where the mother and baby are otherwise authorized to be.” However, the statute does not specify penalties for businesses that violate the code.

Smith Kopiec says she began recording the interaction and later posted the video to social media, where it went viral. She says she felt stunned in the moment.

“I knew breastfeeding was legal, but I wasn’t prepared to be confronted so aggressively while simply feeding my baby,” she says. “I also felt vulnerable because my children were watching, and I didn’t want to escalate the situation or put them in a dangerous position.”

After posting the video, she says she received an outpouring of support — along with comments that surprised her.

“The support has been overwhelming, and I’m incredibly grateful for it,” she says. “At the same time, I’ve been surprised by how many people are openly uncomfortable with breastfeeding, even when it’s legal and discreet.”

“Reading those comments really reinforced for me why sharing this mattered — not to provoke anyone, but to highlight how much education and empathy are still needed around something as basic as feeding a baby,” she adds.

Smith Kopiec says her goal wasn’t to shame anyone, but to show what breastfeeding can look like in real life — and to highlight the difficult gap between knowing your rights and being able to apply them in the moment.

“I knew that I could not legally be asked to leave for breastfeeding, but at that moment it wasn’t clear what that actually meant,” she says. “Was I supposed to sit back down and refuse to move? Was law enforcement going to be called? And if they were, would they even know the law?”

Ultimately, she says, her priority was getting her children out of what felt like a potentially unsafe situation as calmly as possible — and using the video afterward as a learning moment for others.

“Not to shame, but to educate — for moms, for business owners and even for law enforcement — so that everyone understands what breastfeeding protections actually look like in real life, not just on paper,” she says.

“If this helps even one parent feel more confident feeding their baby or standing up for themselves, then something meaningful came out of a really uncomfortable experience,” she adds.