I’ve been watching the Delaware mall breastfeeding controversy since it started. I actually follow all the breastfeeding stories that make it to regional or national news. I nurse my son in public often and have yet to be given a dirty look let alone a derogatory comment, but obviously some women are not as fortunate. I do use a burp cloth usually as a cover or a jacket now that it’s cold. I wonder if that helps? I haven’t used a nursing cover since my son was a couple months old. My big diaper bag was just too much to drag around, so I consolidated to a large purse with just the essentials. Personally, I think the nursing cover draws more attention to what you’re doing. It’s large and screams, “I’m breastfeeding my child!” to everyone. If you’re trying to be discreet, that may not be the best option.
But maybe you don’t want to be discreet? After all…the view of breasts in American culture (and other Western countries) is completely jacked up. The prudish cultural views about BFding in the U.S. needs to change! I would love to see a woman nursing in public daily when I go out!
You know what I really hate? The idea that a nursing mom should go into a family restroom or public restroom to nurse her child! Would you eat your lunch in a smelly public restroom? I wouldn’t! So why should my child?
There is an exception for me. There’s a Macy’s in a mall near here that has a mother’s room attached to the public restroom. You walk through the restroom to get there. But there are no disgusting TOILETS in the actual mother’s room…just couches, lamps, a sink, and a large change table. That’s fine. I’ll nurse in a room like that if it’s available. My son does get distracted if we’re in a public area and there’s a lot going on, so I’m fine with nursing in private if it’s an appropriate area. Restrooms are not appropriate!
I just don’t understand why people view nursing as “disgusting,” “sick,” or “gross.” Hello?! What do you think breasts were made for??? That’s where the real issue lies. We have this view that breasts are sexual objects. That’s why they’re dressed in lace, photographed, magnified beyond life, and pinned up on advertisement posts on buildings, shopping mall walls, etc. That’s not offensive. But attach a baby to it, and all heck breaks loose!
Sorry, men, but breasts were not made for you! So get over it! Otherwise, why does milk build up in them and leak out of them after a woman gives birth, even if she doesn’t want to breastfeed? Animals nurse their young from breasts…but we’re not supposed to?? It’s natural to breastfeed.
This is where ignorant idiots say things like, “It’s natural to fart.” or “It’s natural to urinate.” Really?! You’re going to equate defecating, urinating, and flatuating to feeding a baby the best food of his or her life?
Breastfeeding is undisputedly best for infants. I’m not saying formula is bad…it isn’t. But breastmilk is better. It’s better for moms too! It lowers the incidence of disease and health complications in both babies and moms.
For more on the benefits of breastfeeding, please peruse these pages:
The CDC reports that 75 percent of moms start out breastfeeding in the U.S., but only 13 percent…THIRTEEN…are still exclusively breastfed at six months! We need to have a culture that encourages and expects breastfeeding as the norm. As long as American mothers are ridiculed and treated like social pariahs for nursing their children in public, this will never happen!