breast feeding in public...

[Amielou]

just thought of this after a comment in the pet peeves thread (didn't want to poulute said thread, so starting this one )

i bottle feed my baby (was unwell after she was born and unable to breast feed)

breast feeding is natural, healthy, and usually the best thing for the baby... God made breasts to feed babies.

If done correctly you should not see any breast anyway.

so a few questions...

*do you think breast feeding in public is okay? why / why not

*if you said it's not okay, how are women supposed to feed their hungry child, just not go out at all in the first year??

*what about when it is done discreetly (under a muslin wrap / throw rug etc)

here's my opinion:

Breast feeding is a natural and beautiful thing and women should be encouraged, not made to be ashamed of it.

I think women should be able to go to a cafe for coffee with friends or to the grocery store or to the park and feed their baby when they are hungry, be it from a breast, a bottle, or a sippy cup and a bowl and spoon.

I think that some women are not as careful with it as they should be (if i could breast feed it would be with a light muslin wrap draped over my shoulder, breast and baby) but it is not the public breastfeeding that is the issue, it is the women who are not discreet (same boat as women who dress inappropriately)

just my opinion, but i would really be interested in other people's... please discuss civilly...

 

[John]

breast feeding is natural, healthy, and usually the best thing for the baby... God made breasts to feed babies

Agreed.

*do you think breast feeding in public is okay? why / why not

I say no because I'd rather not see said parts of another woman and i do not think its right in case some small kid sees.

*if you said it's not okay, how are women supposed to feed their hungry child, just not go out at all in the first year??

Restroom perhaps

*what about when it is done discreetly (under a muslin wrap / throw rug etc)

As long as i can't see i don't care.


This one time a lady in my church was breast feeding during the service talk about awkward

 

[Amielou]

i think it's a lovely thing for a child (particularly a girl child) to watch and learn... breastfeeding is very difficult and it is something which is becoming a lost art... i think this is partly due to the fact that young women have not usually been exposed to anyone breastfeeding (due to public shunning of said feeding) and once they have their baby they have to do this very hard and sometimes very painful thing from scratch, with no one to model off, because they want to do the best they can for their baby.

A lady from our church has breast fed all three of her kiddlets at various times during church and i think it is beautiful. my husband understands it is a feeding process, and not something sexual, and he doesn't have a problem with it (just thought i'd put a man's perspective in here too).

re- the rest room thing, not always the cleanest and most sanitary places to be spending any length of time with one's baby (most babies have a weak immune system due to the newness of them), also you need to sit comfortably to breast feed properly, and most restrooms i know of don't have chairs or sofas in them and i would suggest sitting on a toilet to feed ones baby would not be the most hygienic thing in the world.

 

[Vic C.]

As I said in the "pet peeve" thread, it doesn't bother me at all.

It's very natural, but we make it perverse. It can be done in a tactful way. There's no need to be so uptight about it.

Restroom perhaps

John... what!?

 

[Caroline H]

i think it's a lovely thing for a child (particularly a girl child) to watch and learn... breastfeeding is very difficult and it is something which is becoming a lost art... i think this is partly due to the fact that young women have not usually been exposed to anyone breastfeeding (due to public shunning of said feeding) and once they have their baby they have to do this very hard and sometimes very painful thing from scratch, with no one to model off, because they want to do the best they can for their baby.

Excellent points, Amilou. Women are not taught anything about breastfeeding anymore until/if they decide to try it. That is probably the reason so many women fail at it because they aren't mentally prepared for it. I have no problem with a woman breastfeeding in public as long as nothing is showing. Heck, we want women to dress sexy and wear bikinis, but when it comes to feeding their baby we tell them to put it up And what about those Victoria's Secret manakins at the malls that are so lifelike and are in very provocative poses? Why do people not care about that?

 

[Amielou]

As I said in the "pet peeve" thread, it doesn't bother me at all.

It's very natural, but we make it perverse. It can be done in a tactful way. There's no need to be so uptight about it.

Restroom perhaps

John... what!?

Thanks vic.c you made me smile (and giggle) lol. Exactly, i don't think something so natural and essential to life should be made into something perverse, well said.

 

[John]

I know its perfectly fine, just not in some cases, say in a playground, or in a Tim Hortons (Dunkin donuts for you US inhabitants) or in the church sanctuary My

 

[Blazin Bones]

John, I still don't see what is wrong with it if the woman makes the effort to cover up. I'm completely with Caroline on this one. If we can accept Bikini's everywhere and have Arbies commercials that use the Arby's logo to symbolize an erection and show these things with children watching, why should the natural thing of breast feeding be treated in a negative light?

 

[John]

John, I still don't see what is wrong with it if the woman makes the effort to cover up. I'm completely with Caroline on this one. If we can accept Bikini's everywhere and have Arbies commercials that use the Arby's logo to symbolize an erection and show these things with children watching, why should the natural thing of breast feeding be treated in a negative light?

Well i suppose when you put it that way.

 

[Caroline H]

Shoot, tell me that if a man were to decide to take hormones to make him lactate so that he could breastfeed he wouldn't do it in public. I bet he would be applauded for forcing the public to accept his "rights". :bigfrown

 

[Blazin Bones]

I see your point, but please don't get us started again on male lactation.

 

[John]

Shoot, tell me that if a man were to decide to take hormones to make him lactate so that he could breastfeed he wouldn't do it in public. I bet he would be applauded for forcing the public to accept his "rights". :bigfrown

Funny but at the same time sad due to its truthful nature :crazy

I see your point, but please don't get us started again on male lactation
.

Yes lets not :morning

 

[Caroline H]

Yeah, I thought about that as soon as I posted that...

But it's true, if it's not perverted it's not cool anymore...that's with anything.

 

[John]

But it's true, if it's not perverted it's not cool anymore...that's with anything.

Aww i 'm not "cool" anymore HAHAHHA :rolling

 

[heather]

I see your point, but please don't get us started again on male lactation.

Tim, you make me smile.

Anyway, I remember when I was 12 and my mom had my sister. She told people she was not breast feeding. I remember thinking, "So that's what those things are for."

I was NEVER taught that that was why I had breasts. I never knew that I might one day feed my child that way. I think that if a woman covers herself up and does not expose herself, then there's nothing wrong with it. If she's waving her breasts around while feeding for attention, then that's not fair for everyone around her.

And, as far as I know, in the state of Pennsylvania, it is not illegal for a woman to discretely breastfeed her child in public. (One of only a few good things our governor did for us Pennsylvanian!)

 

[VaultZero4Me]

It doesn't bother me.

As far as the bathroom goes, I don't know if I would want my wife sitting on a public commode feeding our child

 

[Caroline H]

Is it illegal in other places?

 

[Entropic_Prodigy]

I didn't realize this was still an issue in our culture today. :o

Personally, I don't want people staring at me while I'm breast-feeding my child. I breast-fed both of them, and let me tell you there's some perverts out there. I did my best to keep covered up and usually fed my child under a blanket.

...just my , but the women that are usually unmodest about baring their breasts in public are usually the ones that are too vain to breast-feed in the first place.

The other group of people that don't take enough care to cover themselves while feeding their child are usually the ones that will stare at you and ask if you have a problem with what they're doing, or they are trying to make some sort of "statement" to those who would dare to be offended by the simple act of a woman feeding her child...

Either way, if you don't wanna see it, don't look!!!

...and I've fed my child in a public restroom before. It sucks.

Since when is "sucks" a bad word? it's what babies do...

 

[Entropic_Prodigy]

Is it illegal in other places?

I thought this was interesting...

http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/breast50.htm

It's a comprehensive run down of breast-feeding laws in the United States. I scanned the website, and all states have made some sort of law protecting women and their right to breast-feed...

Can't find any countries where it's illegal either, but I'm sure there's one or two somewhere, someplace...hmm.

 

[heather]

Thank you E_P for your research.