Not only that but, like zsofia said, it becomes painful (and leaky) for the mother if she waits too long.
Yeah. I’m sure that if NinjaChick is that disgusted by bodily fluids, then this anecdote is going to send her running for the bathroom (I hope she can find a stall that is unoccupied by a nursing mother), but when my babies were newborns, I could always tell when they were getting hungry because I’d start to leak. Sometimes quite profusely. It was like some kind of internal clock or sixth sense or something.
Not to get too TMI, but OMG yes, it does. It actually can get to the point where the baby can’t latch on because of the engorgement. And it is painful. Nothing better than a situation where your baby is crying, you are uncomfortable and leaking, and people around you think it’s gross for you to just do what’s natural and alleviate the whole situation.
And defecating is what my butt is for, but I don’t do that in public. “It’s natural” is a horrible argument for public breastfeeding. Lots of things are natural - that doesn’t mean we do them anywhere at any time.
That said, I don’t actually mind discrete breastfeeding in most places, especially most places where infants legitimately belong. Breastfeeding infants do not belong at the theater.
Agreed. Luckily, there are plenty of other excellent arguments for public breastfeeding that do not involve comparing breastmilk to human feces.
Yes but of course breastfeeding is legal and doesn’t smell horrible, so what was the point of your comparison again?
This story is really related to nothing. I mean, I am all for breastfeeding wherever, provided it’s a kids’ place in the first place.
However, I have run into exactly one woman like the one you mention above. At a local…evening dance practice, where there were 30 or so people, most of whom knew each other casually but at least some strangers, I witnessed a young lady opening up her button down shirt completely and throwing both sides of it back, exposing both breasts, and then proceeded to breast-feed her babe, first from one breast and then the other. I mean, total exposure.
Now that I found rather disgusting and cheap. But thankfully such women are few and far between.
Breastfeeding infants that need frequent feedings is one thing. Be discreet but feed your kid if it needs it. But the woman who sat in the third row at Mass every Sunday, whose toddler would climb on her lap and pull up her shirt - well, at some point you need to feed the kid before Mass and teach it to wait for the hour to be over. If it’s so desperate that it needs immediate attention, then leave the pew and go elsewhere.
And you with the two middle-school-aged kids who have to leave in the middle of Mass to use the bathroom? Same goes for you. Your two healthy kids can go before Mass and sit there until after Mass.
StG
This is a ridiculous comparison. Breastfeeding does not produce any offensive odors or anything. You also seem to be under the impression that public breastfeeding is something that needs to be argued for. It s not. It is incumbant on those who want to prevent this necessary and inoffensive activity from occurring in their immediate vicinity to demonstrate some way in which their rights are being violated.
For me and my three babies, nursing discreetly (with a lightweight blanket thrown over my shoulder/boob) was a surefire way to get them to calm down, and usually, go to sleep. I took my very small middle baby to the circus with us as it was a whole family event, and though she was not thrilled with the loud noise, once I started feeding her, the combination of the blanket providing relative darkness, and the comfort of feeding lulled her into a zombie state. 
Of course, that one would have happily breastfed in the middle of Armageddon. I’ve been really lucky in that my husband’s family is very laid back about that sort of thing – there were years when I or my two sisters-in-law were always nursing/pregnant/giving birth, and they gave me invaluable tips and support.
Last I checked, we were talking about eating, not defecating.
Why don’t you spare the rest of us the sight of you eating your meals.
Yeah, that definitely would help a lot. I recognize it needs to be done, but I’m always grateful for discretion. It’s not something I run into a lot though. I’m like the embarrassed office guy Annie X-Mas mentioned, who isn’t really sure what to do in that situation. I always feel like I’m intruding on a private moment.
I’m not terribly experienced with children, so in general this has been quite an educational thread.
I’d do pretty much anything to avoid very small children on an airplane, but in modern life it is sometimes the only practical and acceptable solution to the parents (my son had a 24 hour trip from Korea at six months). And if you are breastfeeding, the only place to do it is in your seat or in the bathroom - and there is generally a line for the bathroom - mom and baby spending 20 minutes in there for lunch is probably going to be more of an issue than it solves (plus the whole breastfeeding in a bathroom issue).
I would think Mom would also prefer not to breastfeed in an 18’ wide seat - I would think that would not be comfortable for her either.
However, you can skip a Broadway play or get a sitter.
Just keep in mind that 99% of nursing mothers (barring the odd aberration like the woman Anaamika mentioned who pretty much took her entire top off) feel very self-conscious about doing it in public and try to be as discreet as possible. Trust me, we’re all aware that there are people like NinjaChick out there who think what we’re doing is completely revolting and wish we’d go hide in the bathroom.
thank you thank you
I don’t think of amaranth’s post as a comparison. Part of DtC’s pro breastfeeding argument has to do with the “naturalness” of breastfeeding. It’s such a broad argument, it can be applied to activities that are equally as natural, but are clearly not acceptable behavior in public.
It’s an entirely legitimate attack on the argument, and doesn’t need to presume that the poster thinks breastfeeding is as objectionable as crapping in the theater’s aisle.
We as a society make up, out of pretty much whole cloth, the idea of what is and isn’t acceptable public behavior. There’s nothing inherent, for instance, in the act of eating that makes it less objectionable than defecating. Hell, we let dogs dump all over the damn place, completely in public, and the only time anyone gets mad is if the owner doesn’t pick it up.
It’s a shame that more women don’t have that support. There is such a thread running through society of, “Ew! Mammals being mammals! Gross!” that I suspect puts some women off breastfeeding for fear of upsetting others.
Before we had children my husband related a family visit to his grandparents. He and his grandfather were eating in the kitchen, and, “My cousin walked in and was feeding her baby and just sat there and had a conversation with us!”
“So?”
“Well, that’s just gross!”
“Why?”
“It just is!”
“Could you see anything?”
“No, but that was just disgusting.”
He changed his tune very quickly when we had our first baby.
Yeah, I would agree with you–babies don’t belong in the theatre, not because breast feeding is inappropriate but because they can cry/generally cause a disturbance for the other patrons…and it’s not really like going to the movies where you can just get up and leave the theatre because getting up midway is also generally frowned upon.
But if a baby is allowed to be there (basically anywhere else), I don’t see the problem with breast feeding. It’s a natural part of life. Baby’s gotta eat, man.
'Mika! You’ve returned!
:: blares trumpets ::
And here I thought you’d been abducted by the Justice League and was being forced to betray all my secrets. In retrospect it would have been wiser to find out for certain before taking my revenge on the JLA. Ah well, live and learn.
:: returns to torturing Aquaman ::
You’re welcome, by the way