Having a baby shouldn’t mean your life has to come to a standstill, and you have to applaud parents who manage to still get out and about in the world while carting around a little one. That’s exactly what Meredith Barnyak and her husband, mom, and stepfather did when they headed to Disney World with Meredith’s kids, 3-year-old Graham and 1-year-old Poppy. However, Poppy got hungry on the “Frozen Ever After” ride, so Meredith started feeding her. When an image of Meredith breastfeeding her daughter on the Disney ride was posted online, people lost it.
Feeding her kid was really NBD.
Kids get hungry and cranky quickly, and they don’t particularly care where they are when that happens. Meredith didn’t even think about what she was doing when she began breastfeeding — she was just looking after her daughter.
Meredith admitted to TODAY.com that she did completely forget about the fact that there’s a camera that takes a photo on the ride.
“As soon as I saw the flash, I was like, ‘Oh no, I think all these people have a picture of [me] breastfeeding my baby on this ride,’” she recalled.
However, she didn’t really care.
“I am a pretty big proponent of any way you can feed your baby you should be able to do it — in any place,” she explained.
“She would just pull on my shirt and I thought, ‘OK, it’s dark out. We’re all humans. We’re all honestly going to enjoy the ride a lot better and you’ll be happier being fed.’”
Her cousin posted the photo from the ride on Instagram.
Meredith’s cousin runs a website called Cup of Jo and, with Meredith’s permission, shared the snap from the ride on her Instagram with the caption, “My cousin @meredithbarnyak being an absolute MOM on this Disney ride.”
Everything in Meredith’s family found the whole thing pretty funny.
“I thought it was a great picture and our family was laughing about it,” Meredith said. “And so I was more than happy for Joanna to post it.”
Sadly, not everyone online agreed.
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People on the internet lost their minds.
While breastfeeding is entirely natural and there’s nothing indecent or inappropriate about it, many people online disagreed.
“Sorry @cupofjoe – big fan of you but this is stupid, dangerous, and irresponsible,” one commenter claimed. “@disney allowed this? Lifetime Orlando resident and year after year people get hurt or killed on theme park rides — usually for being dumb. I have no words.”
Others accused Meredith of seeking attention by feeding her child, with one person saying, “I don’t have anything against feeding your baby in public and I actually encourage women to do it, but some people, like your cousin, just wants to be in the center of attention 🤷🏻♀️! And by the way, having a baby on a ride at an amusement park…. 🤦🏻♀️”
And while she shouldn’t have to justify anything, Meredith did feel the need to clarify that the ride she was on was hardly a thrill ride or moving at high speeds.
“I guess if you look at this picture, it might look like it’s an intense ride,” she said. “But it’s a boat ride. There’s no seatbelts. It’s a very nice relaxing ride except that the there is a drop that you don’t see coming because it’s dark. And that’s what that photo was taken.”
