Public Breastfeeding, It is not Taboo
Public breastfeeding can be such a controversial and intimidating concept. It is really silly that it has to be written about at all. One doesn’t comment on sneezing in public, whether or not it’s acceptable, and how you should sneeze so as not to offend the sensibilities of those nearby. How and where a mother can feed her child should not even be an issue.
But it is an issue in this prudish country, which is such an apparently forward thinking nation. Even in Saudi Arabia, where women are expected to cover their bodies head to toe from the sight of men, women don’t think twice about nursing their babies in public. They are expected to feed them wherever they may be.
It must be the remnants of our country’s puritanical upbringing that expects mothers to run and hide to feed their children or to remain locked up in seclusion until their babies can take some form of nourishment other than that which is natural. Isn’t it strange though, that breasts can be plastered all over magazine ads and scattered through TV commercials selling products and no one bats an eye and yet people become disgusted at worst and flustered at best when they see a woman using her breasts for their intended purpose? Even teenage girls can swagger around with their cleavage in full view and the sight of breast skin only becomes an issue when there is a child attached to it. And the pitiful thing is that the vast majority of mothers who are seen nursing never flash a square inch of breast skin at all.
It is such a horrible thing that mothers must feel scared to nurse their babies in public- some choose not to breastfeed at all for this very reason- and it is the children who reap the effects of this backwards idea of the purpose of the breast. Infants need to feed very frequently due to the digestibility of human milk so it is safe to assume that the child is going to want to nurse while Mom is out and about. That is, of course, under the assumption that the mother decides to leave home at some point during the breastfeeding relationship - which, ideally, should last at least three years.
Most often public breastfeeding becomes an issue in restaurants. Apparently the sight of a mother feeding her baby is enough to put fellow patrons off of their meals. Some feel that she should go to the car to nurse her baby. Now, mothers are people too, and are allowed a nice cooked, hot, may I add, meal every so often. There is no reason that she should be expected to leave her meal curdling on the table to go hide to nurse her baby. Baby can eat at the table along with the rest of the family.
Another suggestion is to go nurse the baby in the public bathroom. That is just disgusting. Maybe it’s the norm for most people to eat their dinner on the toilet? I for one prefer not to associate people’s waste habits and noises with food.
Others suggest putting a blanket over the baby so no one sees the head of the child resting on his mother’s breast. Much of the time a baby will refuse to nurse comfortably under a cloth for a couple of reasons: it can get quite hot under the towel cuddled up next to Mama, and most nurslings prefer to make eye contact with their mothers. Can I say; if seeing a mother nursing her child offends you, feel free to go eat your dinner with a blanket over YOUR head?
Others feel that a mother should pump her milk at home and tote it around in bottles. This is an outrageously silly idea. Breastfeeding is the most natural thing to do. It’s convenient. Mother’s milk is always available, never spoils, and is always the perfect temperature. Why taint that by being encumbered by a giant diaper bag filled with bottles and coolers? A very large portion of nursing women can barely pump any milk at all. Baby is so much more efficient than a pump. Mothers just cannot pump enough to satisfy baby during the time they are out. Most babies who are exclusively breastfed will not take to a bottle at all. Often times the artificial rubber nipple actually causes them to gag. There should be no reason to veer from the natural standard that is breastfeeding to the inconveniences of bottle feeding. It’s for that reason alone that many mothers choose to nurse their infants.
Public breastfeeding doesn’t have to be the spectacle that so many opponents say that it is. Watch for baby’s hunger cues and don’t wait until the child is crying to be fed. It is then that a scene happens. If mother waits until the child is worked up and flailing it will be difficult to be discreet while latching baby on. It can be practiced at home in front of a mirror so that the baby can be latched on with ease with absolutely no skin showing.
So if you’re a mother who is planning on nursing her child and fears that time when you will have to feed your baby in public, don’t fret. Stop worrying about others’ reactions. It is they who are wrong. They have the backwards concept of what women’s breasts are for. Don’t deny your child because someone will be offended by seeing you nurse your baby.
Understand that you have rights. Massachusetts just joined the ranks of states providing protection for breastfeeding mothers and infants in public, with only two states left to enact laws for their protection. And the only reason that these laws are being enacted is because mothers are refusing to hide to feed their infants. Because they know that what they are doing is right, and good, and is not something that should be hidden. The only way that public breastfeeding will be accepted is by women being proactive and making it a normal thing to nurse their babies whenever and wherever they are.
