Breastfeeding in Public

The Huffington Post, 9.26.2013

If You Don't Support Breastfeeding in Public, You Don't Support Breastfeeding

Most people, if you ask them, will say they support breastfeeding, that they believe that it's the best nutrition for babies, natural and good.

Ask the same people about breastfeeding in public, however, and the responses shift. Some people will be totally on board with the idea, and other people will balk.

To the balkers, I say this. It's not going to make me popular, but it's a statement I have come to believe is true through nine years of lactation, even longer study of lactation, and the experience of thousands of other mothers.

If you don't support breastfeeding in public, you don't support breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding whenever, wherever a child is hungry is an integral component of breastfeeding success. To take that away is to inhibit mothers who only want to do right by their child. We don't put the same constraints on mothers who bottle feed. To dictate a separate set of rules for a nursing mother and child is discriminatory.

Here are some of the examples people give for why women should not nurse in public.

"I don't pee or masturbate in public, so why should a woman breastfeed?"

This supposes the act of feeding a child is private, or worse, sexual or dirty. But nobody else eats a hamburger under a blanket. We don't ostracize bottle-fed children to another room. Urinating or committing sex acts are considered private, but in no other context but breastfeeding is eating considered something that cannot be viewed.

"Just go in another room. Stay home. Nobody wants to see that."

Mothering is already an isolating, exhausting business and to tell a woman that for several hours a day she has to be sequestered is dehumanizing...

To read remaining article, click this link.

I totally agree. That's what women's breasts are meant to do. It is natural and if people don't see the beauty in that connection, they can avert their gaze instead of trying to control women who are doing what is natural to motherhood and life. If think if it makes you uncomfortable why not look at the indoctrinating beliefs you carry about women's breasts and sex. After all think about it, men regularly show their breasts in public and they don't even serve such an important function such as feeding a baby. :heart:

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Posted in reply to the post by Edward Mendoza:

The Huffington Post, 9.26.2013

If You Don't Support Breastfeeding in Public, You Don't Support Breastfeeding

Most people, if you ask them, will say they support breastfeeding, that they believe that it's the best nutrition for babies, natural and good.

Ask the same people about breastfeeding in public, however, and the responses shift. Some people will be totally on board with the idea, and other people will balk..,.

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Posted in reply to the post by Retune:

I totally agree. That's what women's breasts are meant to do. It is natural and if people don't see the beauty in that connection, they can avert their gaze instead of trying to control women who are doing what is natural to motherhood and life. If think if it makes you uncomfortable why not look at the indoctrinating beliefs you carry about women's breasts and sex. ...

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Here's a great song by Joules Graves about the topic. Click on the album art to play:

https://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/126s/8798337.jpg

I can't believe there is still a controversy about this. I breastfed my kids in public places if they were hungry or needed soothing. I would just throw a blanket over my shoulder and sit in the mall or the park or restaurant and feed them. Maybe a few looked at me askance but not many problems. This in SF and SR, over 20 years ago. Still going on, hard to believe. I guess a new generation of nudniks has come along.

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Posted in reply to the post by Edward Mendoza:

The Huffington Post, 9.26.2013

If You Don't Support Breastfeeding in Public, You Don't Support Breastfeeding

Most people, if you ask them, will say they support breastfeeding, that they believe that it's the best nutrition for babies, natural and good.

Ask the same people about breastfeeding in public, however, and the responses shift. Some people will be totally on board with the idea, and other people will balk.
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I support breast-feeding in public. I spent part of my early years in North Carolina. I went to clog dancing. The women were not ashamed and fed their children there. It is quite different than peeing and masturbating in public, as mentioned in the article. I do openly pee on my farm, into my compost pen. Pee has lots of nitrogen, which stimulates plants to grow. Why waste all that good fertilizer? However, poop has pathogens, so I do not put either my dog or my own poop into the compost bins.

Inside The Controversy In Breast Milk Sharing

When a photo of a mom breastfeeding her son and a friend’s son was posted online last week, not only did it quickly go viral, but it also added fuel to the already polarizing breastfeeding debate. We explore the controversy behind milk sharing, Originally aired on August 18, 2015

https://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/se...c90af408000623