Woman is breastfeeding, say a 4 month old baby. SHe is wearing pants and a t-shirt, so she doesn’t have to do any major disrobing to feed the baby. She just lifts up one side of her t-shirt, possibly briefly exposing the nipple while trying to position the baby. Then all most people can see is the baby’s head and possibly part of the fleshy part of the breast.
Does it matter where? What if it’s in a booth at a family restaurant? On a bench in a mall? At a park? In the lobby of an office building? At the play area of a McDonalds?
Babies are human. Babies have to eat. Eating is considered to be something that we can do in front of each other. So babies should be able to be fed wherever. Bottle or breast.
I can see where some people might think some locales are better than others (I was choosy about where I breastfed, I confess) but generally speaking, I so no reason why you shouldn’t be able to breastfeed a baby in the same places where you’d give it a bottle.
Inevitably, some part of the breast is exposed at some point (unless mom indulges in some ridiculously obvious and cumbersome coverup strategy). Courteous people will pretend not to notice. People who are outraged don’t deserve the time of day, much less an apology.
I love this quote, wish I knew where it came from (probably this board!). A woman is nursing her child in a restaurant booth, and a stranger walks up and says she should take that “spectacle” into the ladies room. She smiles back, tells him that HE should eat HIS dinner in the toilet and then come back & tell her if HE liked it.
Yeah, baby!
I have and do nurse just about anywhere, though not in church yet.
Fine by me. I predict that before this thread ends, someone will mention 1) women who take their entire tops off, get up on a table, and shine a spotlight on themselves while nursing, and 2) women who breastfeed 8 and 9 year old children. I don’t know why, but it seems to come up in every breastfeeding thread. I hope my prediction is wrong.
The most I’ve ever had on display while nursing in public was actually earlier today. We were eating at a restaurant and I was quietly feeding Whatsit Jr. when suddenly, right in the middle of a good feeding, he became distracted by the people at the table next to us and popped off to stick his head up and look around. I was spraying milk everywhere. My 8-year-old brother now knows more about female biology than he probably ever thought possible, although Mom, to her credit, did use the opportunity to give him a brief lecture on “What God Made Breasts For”.
Usually, though, nobody can even tell what’s going on.
Ha ha ha ha ha! My little one gets distracted like that all the time. It drives me crazy! And it’s messy…
He also doesn’t like having anything over his head while he’s nursing, so rather than cover him up (thus pissing him off and ending any chance of feeding him) I just discreetly go at it. Believe me, the only part of my breast you can see is a nicely curved side bit, nothing special.
Maybe it’s just me, but the minute I see a woman breastfeeding her child, her breasts transform into something completely non-sexual to me.
I’m a healthy heterosexual guy, but the first thing that comes to mind when seeing breasts during feeding will never be “Whoah! Nice rack!”, and I’d be disgusted with myself if it were.
If you take that same woman out of that context, my reaction could be completely different. But breastfeeding? How the hell can anyone be offended by that? Other than being complete prudes that look away when they hold their own dicks at the urninal, what possible reason could people have?
Nope, no problem. I used to breastfeed my daughter while walking around with her in the sling. Nothing showed unless you leaned right over and peered in, and then you saw less than with many low-cut tops.
As a man with a new baby - and two preceeding babies - I’d like to say that I am still slightly freaked out by the sight of public breastfeeding.
I recognize this as my problem and not the mother’s.
I just find myself look about for something other than the mother & child for the duration, “Why - look at the blue sky - and look! Here’s a little shiny pebble.”
I’ve met mothers who’ve thrown a light blanket kind-of over-the-shoulder, breast, & baby and that make me more comfortable.
I don’t find it sexual - just a little too personal - like walking in on somebody while they’re peeing or something.
I love the sight of a woman breastfeeding… not for the obvious prurient reasons (git yer mahnd otta tha guttah!), but because it’s one of the few purely natural processes we have left to us. You can’t get much simpler than a mother feeding her child from her own body. There’s something pretty amazing about it. I especially love the sight of my wife with our daughter… it makes me a little sad to think she’ll be our last one, and she’s almost done with breastfeeding anyway. End of an era.
Anyway. Just my way of saying that I have no problem whatsoever with public breastfeeding, anywhere. It’s a beautiful thing.
Not icky - but then again, having breastfed in public numerous times, I would say that. I used to be pretty shy about it, getting out the blanket and whatnot, but I got bolder, I guess. I’m not letting them flap in the breeze or anything (though it is legal in Toronto), but I’m not going to smother the poor kid in 12 layers of fabric so the public will be spared the rare possibility of a flash of nipple.
I think it is OK, so long as it is done with a low exposure style…and it is a good reminder that breasts do have a biological function other than the obvious visual signals regarding gender and reproduction.
Hey, I just made my first (modest) post after lurking for several months!
With me, breastfeeding a kid is similar to you feeding yourself: there are times and places where somethings are more appropriate than others. In circumstances where you’d slip yourself a discreet piece of candy to tide you over, be more discreet about feeding your baby. Else, don’t make a big deal out of it just like you wouldn’t make a big deal out of munching on a bag of chips as you walk down the street. You aren’t flashing the bag of chips to everyone walking by, or shoving it under their noses: thusly, do the same as you feed your kid.