An Ann Arbor woman says she was asked to stop breastfeeding her baby in public at an area YMCA. Now she hopes by speaking out, the gray line about breast-feeding in public is eliminated.

On Dec. 22, Kelly Fuks took her 6-month-old daughter, Ansley, and her 3-year-old son, Maxwell, to the swimming area of the YMCA in Ann Arbor.

According to Fuks, a lifeguard of the YMCA approached her and told her she could not breast-feed by the pool.

"Ansley is a paid member of the YMCA too," Fuks said.

Senior Programs Director at the YMCA Diane Carr said there is no food or water allowed in the pool area and exceptions cannot be made.

"It's difficult to be able to make exceptions and then be able to enforce them," Carr told The Ann Arbor News.

Fuks later contacted the Y by telephone and told the newspaper that the reason she was told breast-feeding by the pool was not allowed was that it created a distraction to lifeguards.

"I think they have a bad policy and place a burden on people with small children," Fuks said.

Linda Wieser, liaison for the La Leche League, told The Ann Arbor News that the situation is not uncommon.

"People assume there are laws to these things, but there really are not," she said.

Michigan exempts breast-feeding from its public nudity statute, but it does not protect a woman's right to breast-feed in public places.

The YMCA does allow breast-feeding in other areas where parents and children are permitted to be together, including the locker rooms and lobby.