It’s inappropriate to breast feed at the zoo?
…but the g’rillas are doin’ it!
A lot of it, for me, depends on the baby. I wouldn’t be upset with a very young baby (say, under 6 months) in a place where kids should generally not be. Unless that baby is colicky or something. But generally babies that young aren’t going to get too fussy and can be fairly easily settled into breastfeeding, if they’ve gotten established with it. I’d guess that in most circumstances nobody would even know, if they weren’t directly adjacent. I’ve nursed babies in restaurants, church, at kids’ ballgames, bowling alleys, the zoo, all kinds of places. I did use a blanket to cover both baby and me, throwing it over my shoulder.
Overall, I wouldn’t take a child under about 10 to the theater, so mostly babies wouldn’t go there, either, but the really young ones are usually much more portable and less likely to disrupt anything than the ones who are old enough to look around.
I won’t throw my breastfeeding in your face, but you’d better not mess with me about it, either. And honestly, in a total of almost 4 years of nursing babies, nobody ever gave me grief about it. I think mostly they didn’t notice.
There’s many times I disagree with either your meaning or your phrasing, but sir, this time it’s been perfect. Bravo!
Eating doesn’t leave behind an object that includes quite a lot of bacteria. I have no problem with seeing someone shit, if they take care of the residue in a hygienic manner. Of course, this happens to be a lot easier on a mountaintop (just cover it) than in, say, a carpeted office (shudder).
Those of you who think that eating is the same as shitting are using the wrong end.
Neither does urinating, but if I were to urinate in public, I’d be arrested.
What I mean to get across is that these rules are arbitrary. Any logical, fact-based support of the rules is nice, but that logic would be thrown out at a moments notice if people changed their feelings about the topic.
Defecating leaves behind an unsavory object, so we justify relegating that to the bathroom. Dog feces is no less objectionable than person feces (at least not appreciably so) yet we allow dogs to do their business in public, just as long as the owner picks it up. The bacteria-riddled-object aspect of defecation is ignored for dogs, because society accepts it that way.
Honestly, as someone who would have given her right arm to BF exclusively, but couldn’t, due to low supply (I had surgery years ago that killed my milk production), I would’ve been thrilled to not take bottles everywhere, OR pump. I hated pumping. It sucked beyond belief, and if we could’ve gotten my kid to latch again after 3 1/2 months old (he started refusing both because of the low supply and because of a severe case of reflux - eating hurt for him), I totally would have been thrilled not to take bottles anywhere.
Of course, I did nurse in public a few times, but not many, since I’m fairly large-chested, and I would’ve flashed every Jethro and Jim Bob in the mall without meaning to do so - for ME, I wasn’t comfortable, but have no problem with other women nursing in public. Hell, I’m jealous of those who can do it. I plan to try again with my next child, and if I can produce enough that they don’t need bottles/formula in public, I’ll find a way to nurse while out and about.
I don’t get the outrage. You typically see more boob on a woman wearing a low-cut blouse. I’ll admit, I’ve seen scads of women nursing out in public, and within my family, and I’ve never seen anyone FLASH a boob. Even my family members are discreet, and we’re usually just in someone’s home - considering we have tons of little ones now, and nursing is the default in the beginning for pretty much all of us (I don’t think anyone in our family has actually chosen to formula-feed from the beginning - we’ve all chosen to breastfeed), there are nursing babies all over the place.
Am I the only person who thinks that the sight of breast feeding is a little bit icky?
I know that its natural but then so is giving birth(Which I have actually seen)and with all the emotional connotations stripped away from that its not the most pleasant of visions.
I am however fully in favour of women who are NOT breastfeeding getting their knockers out in public whenever they feel like it.
Upon sober reflection, it occurs to me that my list of locations and situations where breastfeeding a child in public would be inappropriate is entirely composed of locations and situations where either a) having a child of breastfeeding age is in and of itself inappropriate or b) anyone eating is inappropriate.
A theatrical production is definitely a and a little bit of b.
Church services are likewise.
Although at the last funeral I attended, there was a lady who felt it was appropriate to breastfeed her toddler during the ceremony, which struck me as grossly inappropriate.
No, just the only one who thinks breast feeding is “icky” and who also failed to read the thread.
See, these two I don’t get. Why have we (to use the term loosely) decided that religious rites and rituals aren’t appropriate for kids? Frankly, I’m not sure how anyone expects to indoctrinate children if they aren’t there from an early, early age. (Assuming that indoctrination is one of your goals, which it certainly is for most religions.)
And aren’t you supposed to be paying attention to the guy up front, anyway? As long as the boob whipping is, again, fairly discreet, I don’t see why it’s a problem. And if I’m a grieving mourner, the last stress I need is sore boobs and finding a babysitter. I’d be much more comforted having my little one with me during that rough time. Babies are *perfect *at funerals. Reminds us all that life goes on…
Goodness people. It’s not some kind of human right to never have to see a baby. Babies are people and a part of society, and we might run in to them now and then. Hopefully if they are causing trouble the parents will do what they can to make things better, but it seems kind of taliban-style to say that nursing mothers and infants should only be seen in public in places specificially set aside for infants.
If you really can’t deal with babies being around, stay inside!
Religious rituals are appropriate for kids - some of them and in some places. And some religious rituals are appropriate food occations too. Most Christian services are not appropriate food occations (except for communion) - for the hour service (mass) happens, you don’t whip out a bag of fritos or crack open a bottle of water. A few Christian services are not appropriate small child occations. Even a newborn should be able to get through an hour long service without needing a snack. Feed them before service and feed them afterwards.
Nice strawman. No one is saying children should be banned from public.
There are appropriate child locations (the VAST majority of them) and there are inappropriate child locations. Children don’t belong in bars. They don’t belong at rock concerts, they don’t belong at cocktail parties. They don’t belong at weddings where the bridal couple has determined it to be an adult event. They don’t belong at the 10pm showing of a rated R movie (and probably don’t belong at any rated R movie - even if they are young enough to be buried in Mom’s chest for much of it). They don’t belong on a golf course. They generally don’t belong at work. Some of this depends on the age of the child (a two year old at a fine dining establishment isn’t appropriate, a twelve year old may be), some of it depends on the occation (kids at work may be appropriate on “take your kids to work day” even in workplaces where they may be inappropriate otherwise.)
I say this as the mother of two children who go a lot of places - they’ve been to the Children’s Theatre and museums. They’ve both seen The Lion King on stage - when they were an age that random crying wasn’t going to be an issue. They’ve been out to dinner at some nicer places. They’ve been to the Children’s Symphony. We didn’t take them to Vegas with us. My husband didn’t take them to see Kraftwerk.
It seems that - at least currently and maybe its ‘always been’ like this and I’ve never noticed, that people lose sight of what are appropriate places to bring children and are bring them anywhere they aren’t breaking a specific written rule (and even then I see small kids in bars on occation). That isn’t against the law, but it is rude to bring your children to adult venues.
(The Little Mermaid is not an adult only venue - it falls under the ‘depends on age’ thing - a child young enough to breastfeed is either too young to be depended on to not shriek randomly - and they always stop when offered the breast - or alternatively, is a nursing toddler old enough not to shriek randomly, in which case breastfeeding them in a small theatre seat during a performance falls under the ‘no snacking’ ettiquette that exists in most of the live theatre experiences I have had.)
No. That’s just not right, I’m sorry.
Every reputable pediatrician out there recommends feeding on demand. That means whenever the baby wants it. While you might be able to game the infant’s digestive tract by feeding her at 7:15 and again at 9:15 (assuming a one hour 8:00 mass with a few minutes for small talk and negotiating your way out of the pews to a nursing room) that’s a two-hour span as nursing is measured and is actually a quite long span for a breastfeeding duo. Breast milk digests quickly and when the belly is emptied, an infant feels pain, not just hunger like you and I feel. It is actual pain that cannot be ignored.
Add to that the fact that nursing isn’t just about snacking. Infants need to nurse to eat. They need to nurse to be comforted. They need to nurse 'cause they’re bored. They need to nurse because they’re cold, or warm or wet or…
Lets assume 8:00 mass - you get to church at 7:30 and go to the crying room (or the church basement, the social hall, or whatever your church has) and feed the baby. You finish feeding the baby and go to mass. I don’t know many babies who are going to need to feed again between eight and nine - particularly babies more than a few weeks old - but if it does happen - you remove the baby from the sactuary, not because breastfeeding is inappropriate in the sancutary, but because eating anything other than communion is inappropriate for anyone - there is no special baby exception. You do not eat in a sanctuary.
WhyNot - I don’t think children should be banned from church services (although I often wish there was an “adults only” Mass). I think that a kid that’s old enough to attend school should be old enough to sit quietly. If your kid is a toddler, or is incapable of sitting quietly, most churches have a nursery that’s sound-proofed where you can be with your child without disturbing your fellow parisioners. Because yeah, you are supposed to be paying attention to the person up front, and that can be difficult when there’s a screaming child, or a child going “VROOM VROOOMM” while playing with his toy truck. And it makes contemplative prayer almost impossible. Especially if you’re like me, an adult who isn’t regularly around small kids. Some parents can tune it out because they’re used to the noise kids generate.
The parish I belong to has a lot of kids, but by and large they’re all very well behaved, and if they start getting fussy or loud, the parents remove them until they quiet down. That’s just being considerate of the people around you.
Regarding feeding on demand. In a perfect world, all you have to do in your day is wait for your precious bundle of joy to decide he’s ready to feed. But in the real world, the baby wants to be fed at the same time you’re bathing the toddler. Can’t let her drown in the tub because the littlest tyrant wants his meal. Or you’re cutting up habaneros and can’t just pick up the kid until you get the your hands clean. Or you’re vacuuming and you’ll be done in 5 more minutes. Sometimes the real world intrudes on a perfect pink-and-blue duckies and rainbows child rearing.
StG
I guess your babies are much faster and sated for much longer than either of mine were. Even with a fast flow bottle they needed to eat for 30 minutes every hour and a half until about 6 months old. When my son was breastfeeding, it took him more than 45 minutes every hour and a half.
I’ve never heard this before. We drank and ate during choir practice all the time. I had no idea the prohibition was so absolute, but I’ll take your word for it.
Logically, I understand prohibiting most food and drink. Bottles of pop that can spill and crackers that crinkle and leave crumbs I can see, in a purely housekeeping sense. But nursing presents no mess at all. I guess I just don’t get why a clean, self-contained feeding system designed by God is offensive in God’s house.
**StG **- feeding on demand in a church situation would *prevent *the infant from becoming disruptive due to hunger, is what I’m saying. Yes, I agree that if a kid of any age is being disruptive, they should be stopped or removed, but it just seems to me that sticking them on a teat is a perfectly acceptable way to shut them up without having to remove them, or Mom, from something she considers a valuable thing for both of them (ie, church).
It may not be absolute, we didn’t eat or drink during choir practice in my congregation (which was absurdly traditionalist - we still did Latin masses post Vatican II), but even you will see that choir practice and mass are two different events, right? Did you snack during mass?
It has nothing to do with the mess - there is plenty of food that can be consumed without making a mess - it has to do with it being disrespectful to eat during service.
I think we’re talking past each other. I’m looking for *why *nursing is harmful (or even disrespectful, to use your word) during mass, and you’re looking for why it’s required. As far as I’m concerned, anything that isn’t harmful should be allowed. (It’s in the username. 
)
I didn’t snack during mass because it didn’t cause me pain or cause me to be disruptive if I was a little hungry. If I was a hypoglycemic paraplegic who couldn’t move myself out of the pew when my blood sugar dropped, I’d rather suck on a hard candy during mass than force someone else to leave to take care of me in another room.
And there you have it, why many people really have a problem with breast feeding (it’s especially good when it’s coming from confused gossip site writers who are covering celeb moms. Bigger boobs = good, but now they have kids. And some junk in the trunk. Eww.) Ladies, keep your ladies pushed up and pretty, and only take them out when you’re told (or for beads).