He threw a bucket of cold water on a baby? :eek: :mad: “Wanker?” No, dear sir, “festering pus bucket,” perhaps.
I breastfed both my kids till they were 15- 17 months. I have breastfed in line at Disneyworld, and on airplanes. The only bad reaction I got was on the plane. I was in the window seat, and my little girl had her head by the window, under a blanket, quietly nursing. A mom putting her 9 year old son on the plane to fly alone sees me (wholesome mom-type, not an easily irritated businessman) and goes to put Sonny-boy in the aisle seat next to me, until she sees the discreetly placed blankie and figures out what’s happening. She yanks Sonny-boy back up, gives me a look and puts him next to Easily-irritated Businessman. A half-hour later, after we’re in flight, I look back to see how Sonny-boy is faring…he’s got the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition and he’s giving it his undivided attention for the entire flight. My baby girl fell asleep before takeoff and didn’t wake up til we landed. I still laugh when I think about how that Mom probably told all her friends about how she protected her son from finding out what the primary function of breasts is, while he spent the whole flight dwelling on the secondary function! He’s have seen much less skin in my row! And the businessman who sat next to me didn’t seem to mind the possibility of my daughter waking up for lunch.
When my boss had her baby last year, I asked if she was planning to nurse. She said, no, I’m not gonna bother because she’ll be going into daycare in 6 weeks so why even start? I’ve come across that attitude a lot lately.
IIRC he tried to get the charges (Assault of some kind, I think) reduced by saying that it was a momentary loss of reason, but this claim was rejected on the basis that it must have taken him a minute or two to fill the bucket.
On one of my moms lists (when we were all expecting), a very young mom told us that she would only breastfeed if her baby turned out to be a girl. Because after all, there is something disgusting and perverted about a boy baby sucking on the mom’s breasts.
I almost quit that list that very day. I couldn’t believe it. Ignorance is alive and well.
And mark me down as one of the moms who loves to see other moms breastfeed. I try not to since they are usually trying to be discreet, but man it’s a lovely sight.
personally, i have no problem with teet-feeding. it is better than bottle formula. I’m all for mothers nourishing their calfs with breast milk!
anyone who frowns upon this, well…
Well, I was indiscreet while at home. I would just pull up (or unbutton) my shirt, pop out a breast and nurse.
In public, I made sure to either wear really loose shirts (has anyone made a nursing shirt that is attractive?) and feed her from the botton, or wear a loose jacket-type something over any fitted shirt. Still, I was a 36H (at 140lbs) for the first three months, so hiding those was something of a trial.
Also, breastfeeding under a blanket drove me nuts. I liked to see Kiddo…and have you ever stuck your head under a blanket for 15 minutes? Warm, damp, pre-breathed air…yuk!
Later on, SHE liked to see things. It was fun to watch her eyes roll around trying to take in everything. She’d learned just how far she could move her head before detaching so it was sort of a struggle to keep covered. By the time she was moving my clothes around (7 months) for better viewing, I wasn’t nursing her in public at all.
That was my point, sorry that I didn’t make it more clear (ok, sorry I missed my own point entirely.) Obviously, I’ll never breastfeed so it’s not my issue, but the onus seems to be on breastfeeding moms to at least be discreet when feeding their children. Personally, I don’t want to eat my lunch in a bathroom or under a blanket or to hide the fact that I eat from the general public, and I feel that the burden should be on the public at large to just ignore breastfeeding mothers and children and get on with their lives. If they want breastfeeding to be discreet then they can discreetly turn their ******* heads!
Every time this topic comes up, somebody (often, many people) will stick their heads in and say, “Oh yeah, breastfeeding is great as long as it’s discreet!” I was surprised that it took so long to pop up in this thread.
I never know what this means. Does it mean you have to take the baby into the bathroom or the back seat of your parked car or wherever you can that nobody can see you? Or does it mean throwing a blanket over yourself and your baby?
There are a surprising number of people who think that breastfeeding is only OK if done under a blanket. To these people I say: try it in the middle of July with a 6-month-old who thinks that “fling the blanket” is a fun new game.
Furthermore, I have never seen these “indiscreet” breastfeeders who are apparently running amok in grocery stores and restaurants across the country, boobs flying every which way, screaming at the top of their lungs about the evils of bottlefeeding. Maybe it’s a California thing.
I’m with cornflakes. I’ll feed my child when and where I need to, I am not screwing around with a stupid blanket, and if you happen to get a glimpse of uncovered boob, tough shit. Look the other way. I do my best to avoid totally flashing everyone around me, but that’s about as far as I’m willing to go. When my child is hungry, the last thing on my mind is offending the tender sensibilities of the people around me.
Incidentally, I’ve never understood the people who will say obnoxious things to bottlefeeding moms, either. Apart from the fact that saying obnoxious things to a woman feeding her child is rude all by itself, how do these people know that what’s in the bottle isn’t simply expressed breastmilk? Or that the mother is adoptive, for crying out loud? I think the lesson to be learned here is that people need to keep their damn mouths shut when it comes to other people’s business.
Incidentally, I have fed young Whatsit Jr. in locations ranging from crowded airplanes to restaurants to public parks to parade routes, and have never even been the recipient of a dirty look. It could just be that I’m lucky, but I think that actually people tend to be extremely tolerant and respectful of nursing mothers – much more than message board discussions would lead us all to believe.
Just what every nursing mother needs… to be compared to a cow. :rolleyes:
I’m breastfeeding as I type! Indiscreetly, even. Though I do wear baby Danielle in a sling, which would allow for rather discreet public nursing should the issue come up. (We actually haven’t gone anywhere for that long yet.) I intend to try this out at church this Sunday. We normally sit on the front pew, too. I can’t wait to see my pastor’s reaction.
As to the OP, women who think like that ought to spend a little time outside of the world of privilege in places where it’s breastfeed or bury.
I would think she’d learn very quickly how far she could move her head before it detached…oh, until she detached from your…haha. Nevermind.
I’ve never breastfed (no children yet) but my mom used to, all the time, with the little kidbits. I was actually shocked when I learned that anyone other than babies applied mouths to breasts!
Oh, yeah, tlw, my mom had a sling for the youngest two of my siblings (born in '95 and '97). They were pretty cool–good for nursing, and also for just carrying the kid around. Mom would let us older kids carry the babies around in them sometimes. It’s nice to feel a baby nestled up against you in a sling, but still have your hands free to do things.
Re; the discreet thing - yes, breastfeeding is completely natural, necessary, healthy etc, there can be no sensible argument about that, but there are certain things that people just don’t like to see in public, it’s an unfortunate fact of life. Urination is a completely natural, necessary, healthy(for the urinator) activity and yet it’s not at all unreasonable to expect people to do it in private (OK, OK, it does have the additional side effect of producing unpleasant wastes).
Re-reading that, it sounds like I’m anti-breastfeeding in public, but that isn’t the case; being discreet(for me) would just mean not deliberately exposing more than necessary, in the same way as being discreet about urination includes not standing up in a restaurant and loudly proclaiming “hey everybody, I’m just going for a slash”.
It’s entirely possible that draping blankets etc. over oneself actually draws more attention.
Whatever, I don’t have a problem with breasts.
Mangetout, ironically, all that stands out in your last post to me is your UserName.
Sometimes, a baby just has to eat. On a plane, I’m certain people would rather see a bit of flesh popped out from time to time rather than having a baby screaming in their ear.
And by breastfeeding in public, a woman is not ‘announcing’ anything. You’re example of standing up and proclaiming one is ‘going for a slash’ is a totally different matter. I cannot choose to look away from that idiot, or cover my ears so I don’t hear him.
Sometimes, you can be discrete as you like while nursing, and a baby will pull off the blanket or open your blouse, just as he/she pops off for a gander around at the offended gobshite looking on disapprovingly. I kind of like when that happens, but call me weird. 
I see people do things that are far more offensive in public places than feeding a child.
Um, That’s the point I was trying to make, read it again, please.
I would find it offensive if sombeody was ‘making a show’ of breastfeeding in public, not because of what was available to see, but because of the attitude. I would find it offensive, but I’ve never had the opportunity to, probably because it hardly ever (or never) happens.
That’s my point. I’ve never seen it happen, and I suspect it happens rarely, and yet EVERY SINGLE TIME a discussion of breastfeeding comes up, everyone is quick to censure all those nursing moms out there who are indiscreetly showing off their tits to the entire world with absolutely no shame.
Can we all just move on past this issue, please? It’s a non-issue.
My baby has to eat, which is another fact of life. You may perceive it as unfortunate if you like. Like I said earlier, I try not to flash the entire room when I get Whatsit Jr. latched on, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go in the direction of “discreetness.”
But again, this is really a non-issue, because of all the nursing mothers I know (and I know a lot), I don’t know a single one who prefers to make a big exhibitionist show out of nursing in public. I don’t know why the “exhibitionist moms” are always such a big topic of discussion, because I personally doubt that they exist.
Mangetout,
Do women in England stand up in restaurants and announce their intention to breastfeed? I’ve never seen it or heard of it over here.
Regarding your post, babies eat, no analogy is needed. So if I may:
For what it’s worth, babies also urinate and most people are very discreet about that.
I am one of those who thinks covering up or otherwise being discreet while breastfeeding is not important. Just do what you have to do for the little critter. I am also one of those who does NOT demonize bottlefeeding and ended up doing it when my son decided he didn’t care for breastfeeding - he could do it if he wanted, he just didn’t want to (3 1/2 years later he is that way about everything). I am here to say I’ve heard some stupid assed remarks on BOTH sides. Two favorite examples:
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(anti-breastfeeding, by my mother in law): How do you know how many ounces they’ve had?
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(pro-breastfeeding, by a girl I know online): I took my son to the nursing home to visit when he was three days old because I was breastfeeding so he couldn’t catch anything.
I do have a million of them, but I’ll stop.
It’s just one of those cultural differences that make the world go round. They spell things a little differently, drive on the other side of the road, and, when preparing ot breastfeed, tap a fork on a glass until they’ve got the room’s attention, stand, introduce baby and breast to the room (“Hello, my name is Mary and I’ll be breastfeeding momentarily.” “Hi Mary!”), and then feed in the middle of a spotlight.
You don’t even want to know about how they go about the entirely comparable act of voiding bodily waste.
For the truly ignorant (me), can someone please outline the advantages of breastfeeding over the bottle? Thanks.