# Women push for public breastfeeding policy at Starbucks, stage "nurse-in" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 11, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378 "2004-08-11T16:35:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/221 "2004-08-13T19:28:08Z")
> [@Aries28](#): > > But the fact that you have this habit of posting about kids/kid issues a great deal and then putting your fingers in your ears shouting LALALALALALALALA whenever anybody who does have kids differs with you makes me think I might. So, disagreeing with you = “putting your fingers in your ears shouting LALALALALALALALA”? Need I remind you, the question that started the thread, “is breastfeeding appropriate in certain public places?” is not a question of fact, it is a question of opinion. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/222 "2004-08-13T19:33:35Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > Luckily, the method of evacuation communication that I linked you to has nothing to do with this type of abusive practice. And yet I think it’s likely that those children, as well as others trained through abuse and force, are included in the 50% worldwide rate you seem so enamored by. ---
**Author:** ![Aries28](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Aries28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aries28)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/223 "2004-08-13T19:35:04Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > I was actually responding to **Weirddave** there. > > In regards to your other comments, I never said I knew more than you or you didn’t know more than me. I’m here to learn and discuss. Just because I don’t have kids doesn’t mean I cant learn about and discuss them, does it **Aries**? And just because you are a mom and you tell me your knowledge/thoughts/experiences/opinions, does that mean I have to automatically agree? I don’t think so. > > That is what I like about this board, we’re all here to learn and discuss, and we don’t have to agree. I like hearing different viewpoints. If you don’t like hearing my viewpoints, then don’t read my posts. No shit. I knew who you were responding to. I just wondered if since I have birthed 2 kids then that means I am automatically an expert on all things kid related? I don’t think so. You have this habit of saying that because you know someone or have been around someone then therefore it is so. Here’s an example in this thread where you expressed how you know everything about pumping milk/and or maternity leave and the fariness/unfairness of them. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=250923&page=1&pp=50](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=250923&page=1&pp=50) > [@](#): > > Well I have been around many newborns, and none of my friends who had babies and none of the women in my family who had babies have had any problem with breast pumping. If you nurse for a month, then go back to work after a month, and spend 8 hours away from the suckling baby, and pump while at work, but still continue to nurse while at home, I am certain that is not going to damage or diminish your milk supply, or damage your kid. Here’s one where under your old username **birdgirl** you told us all about how being outdoors in hot weather couldn’t hurt. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=193446&page=1&pp=50](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=193446&page=1&pp=50) And here’s one where you misunderstand someone’s post then proceed to say… > [@](#): > > I’d like to offer you my sincerest thanks for cheating me out of my hard-earned tax dollars so you can feed your offspring more cheaply. I’d rather my tax dollars go toward buying you some birth control [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=263142&page=1&pp=50](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=263142&page=1&pp=50) You can disagree with me all day long but you have proven the fact that whenever someone disagrees with you you stomp your foot and act outraged that everyone doesn’t hold to your strongly held beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/224 "2004-08-13T19:53:14Z")
> [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > This is not a slam or insult, your choice to have or not have children is your own, and I support you fully which ever way you choose, but why do you hold forth so viehamently on situations that you know nothing about (having not experienced them yourself)? > > One more thing… the same could be said about you. You’ve never had an infant before have you? No, the same can’t be said about him. He’s not holding forth vehemently on the subject. In thread after thread after thread. Your selective reading is doing your arguments (I’m sorry…“discussions”) no favors. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/225 "2004-08-13T19:55:10Z")
> [@Aries28](#): > > You can disagree with me all day long but you have proven the fact that whenever someone disagrees with you you stomp your foot and act outraged that everyone doesn’t hold to your strongly held beliefs. Isn’t that exactly what you’re doing right now? Hi pot, I’m kettle. I never acted outraged in this thread, WTF are you talking about? This thread was very interesting and non-nasty until someone posted about it in their LiveJournal making snarky comments about me, and that is the only reason you came here. You didn’t even post here until your read your buddy’s LJ snark. You’re not here because you want to discuss the issue, you’re here because you want to antagonize me and make me look bad because you and your LJ buddies don’t like me. So unless you want to have an intelligent conversation about the subject of this thread, then go away. Go bitch and snark with your LJ friends. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/226 "2004-08-13T19:56:55Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > I have been involved in several discussions on the board about breastfeeding issues and have read a lot of stuff online about it, as well as all the information I have gained from reading and life experience. I am aware of how breastfeeding is practiced around the world. I have read all your (and other’s) posts and looked at all your links and done research of my own. So why do you say I am ignoring it? Because I don’t come to the same conclusion as you do? That’s not ignoring, that is disagreeing. No, this isn’t about our opinions differing. “Ignore” is too strong a word and a poor choice for me to have used. I just think it’s inconsistent for you (or anyone) to suggest that parenting and child-rearing practices in far-off corners of the world are relevant to some aspects of parenting (like toilet training) but to resist or avoid that sort of comparison when it comes to others (breastfeeding). ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/227 "2004-08-13T20:03:09Z")
> [@Hamadryad](#): > > No, the same can’t be said about him. He’s not holding forth vehemently on the subject. In thread after thread after thread. > > Your selective reading is doing your arguments (I’m sorry…“discussions”) no favors. Geesh, you and your comrades don’t realize how hypocritical you are. You get all over my case for having opinions different than yours, getting mad because I won’t think the way you think. But when _you_ have opinions and hold forth vehemently, do I get all over you and make snarky posts and LJ entries about you? No, I read your posts and find them interesting, even though they differ. I respect you even though we have differring viewpoints. It’s OK for you to have opinions but not me? What the fuck? Since when was “holding forth vehemently on the subject. In thread after thread after thread.” a bad thing? Isn’t that what we do here? I’m not here to be combative. I’m here to learn and be intellectually stimulated. If you’re going to be combative and not offer anything of value (i.e. snarkiness) please stay out of my threads. ---
**Author:** ![Aries28](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Aries28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aries28)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/228 "2004-08-13T20:03:53Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > Isn’t that exactly what you’re doing right now? Hi pot, I’m kettle. > > I never acted outraged in this thread, WTF are you talking about? This thread was very interesting and non-nasty until someone posted about it in their LiveJournal making snarky comments about me, and that is the only reason you came here. You didn’t even post here until your read your buddy’s LJ snark. You’re not here because you want to discuss the issue, you’re here because you want to antagonize me and make me look bad because you and your LJ buddies don’t like me. > > So unless you want to have an intelligent conversation about the subject of this thread, then go away. Go bitch and snark with your LJ friends. What are you talking about? I saw this thread WELL before I read anything at all about you on LJ. I stayed away from it all day yesterday because to be perfectly honest any thread about kids I see you as the author of I tend to stay away from because it’s going to be the same shit. I only came here today because I kept seeing it pop up on the front page so I figured I might as well see what all the fuss was about. BIG mistake. I was right…same shit. Baby you don’t need me to make you look bad. Your fucking pissy ass bitchy attitude, self righteousness and your posts do it for you all by yourself. I would have an intelligent conversation about breastfeeding but since I could care less where somebody nurses because I don’t have some hang up about tits I can’t do that with you. I hope to goodness you do have kids one day and you are still posting here and I’m still around because I can’t WAIT to see the outcome when they don’t conform to every single thing you think you know by reading a link or an article on the net. And now I’ve got to head home to let my 2 year old use my body for a little while and cuddle with me and tell me about his day. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/229 "2004-08-13T20:08:12Z")
> [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](#): > > No, this isn’t about our opinions differing. > > “Ignore” is too strong a word and a poor choice for me to have used. > > I just think it’s inconsistent for you (or anyone) to suggest that parenting and child-rearing practices in far-off corners of the world are relevant to some aspects of parenting (like toilet training) but to resist or avoid that sort of comparison when it comes to others (breastfeeding). I think you may have misunderstood me then. This thread is not about toilet training. It came up briefly, and I mentioned a previous tidbit I heard on the board, someone asked me for cites, and I provided them. I never said “I advocate for the information in these links” or anything of that sort. I posted the links. I thought they were interesting, and contained things I was unaware of before. I love how I am always learning new things here. I did not intent to make the suggestion/comparison you suggested above, so I feel you are mistaken when you assumed that. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/230 "2004-08-13T20:11:45Z")
> [@Aries28](#): > > Baby you don’t need me to make you look bad. Your fucking pissy ass bitchy attitude, self righteousness and your posts do it for you all by yourself. What’s up with the foul language and nastiness? Calm down. Did you even read this thread? Many people agreed with me, and we were having a good discussion until you came here and shit all over it. > [@Aries28](#): > > And now I’ve got to head home to let my 2 year old use my body for a little while and cuddle with me and tell me about his day. Good for you. Enjoy your weekend. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/231 "2004-08-13T20:30:55Z")
**Aries** , honey, are you feeling all right? Those posts just don’t sound like the typical you. They sound like you’ve either had an abysmally shitty day, or something rather large crawled up your butt and died. If I had to guess, I’d go with the shitty day. If you need a sympathetic but detached ear, you can email me anytime. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/232 "2004-08-13T20:56:09Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by Weirddave > > The idea that one should consentrate on “getting their body back” is laughable. > > The above quote _beautifuly_ illustrates that you are not a woman/mother. Well, you’re certainly right about that. I am willing to bet that my thoughts on this matter dovetail with those who are, however, more than yours do. How about it, mothers of the SDMB? After you gave birth, was “getting your body back” a primary concern? IOW, was nursing your child a huge PITA, something you wanted to be over with as soon a possible, an unplesant experience you just wanted to be done with? > [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > I have thoughts and opinions on many things which do not affect me directly. So do most people on this board and most people in the world, including you I am sure. > > Because I am not a parent yet, I can’t have an opinion on child-related issues? Well then, you are not a woman so you can’t have an opinion on woman-related issues, OK? > > P.S. And yes I want to become a parent one day when I am married to the right person and am financially stable enough to do so. You seem to be reacting with a bit of hostility to a question I posed honestly enough. No, I am not saying you can’t have opinions on parenting issues, that would be ludicrous. You, however, seem to form an opinion and defend it to death with the attitude that it’s an irrefutable fact, even in the face of people telling you from their experience that you may be mistaken. > [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > Have you ever stopped to think that maybe my interest in parenting issues is because I want to learn all I can about them so I am better-prepared for when I have children someday? Afterall, parenting is the most important thing you can do in life, right? So why not be as informed and prepared as you can be before you do it? That is a commendable attitude. Often times, however, your tone smacks not of seeking to learn but of one imparting wisdom to the ignorant masses. > [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > I never acted outraged in this thread, WTF are you talking about? This thread was very interesting and non-nasty until someone posted about it in their LiveJournal making snarky comments about me, and that is the only reason you came here. You didn’t even post here until your read your buddy’s LJ snark. You’re not here because you want to discuss the issue, you’re here because you want to antagonize me and make me look bad because you and your LJ buddies don’t like me. > > So unless you want to have an intelligent conversation about the subject of this thread, then go away. Go bitch and snark with your LJ friends. I have been following this thread from it’s inception. You’ll notice that I posted way back on page 1, post #25, to be exact. I haven’t even seen it mentioned on LJ, but I do find it interesting that you accuse me of not even coming here until I read “my buddy’s” Lj snark. ( Oh, and do you have a link? I’d like to see what is being said on LJ so I can better answer your accusations ) Maybe we now have a clue as to who it is who is always claiming in the anon communities that some ill defined group of posters is sneekily conspiring to dogpile “people they don’t like” here on the SDMB. > [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > It’s nyctea scandiaca. I know it’s hard to spell/pronounce, but you can just copy/paste. You should expect such things when you change your name from something easy and common to something difficult. I still call The Artist Formarly Know as an Unpronouncable Symbol “Prince”, and Liberal will, I suspect, always be known as Liberitarian here. No offence was intended. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/233 "2004-08-13T21:31:23Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > That is a commendable attitude. Often times, however, your tone smacks not of seeking to learn but of one imparting wisdom to the ignorant masses. I’m sorry if my tone leads you to believe that, because that is not the case at all. I never said or implied that anyone was ignorant. I was a thread discussion a contentious editorial. It was a discussion of opinions, not facts. > [@Weirddave](#): > > I haven’t even seen it mentioned on LJ, but I do find it interesting that you accuse me of not even coming here until I read “my buddy’s” Lj snark. Dave, I was responding to Aries28 there, not you. I hadn’t seen her in this thread at all, then someone posted about it in their LJ, where Aries made a snarky comment about me, then all of a sudden she was in here making comments that were basically just being personally attacking rather than discussing the topic. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/234 "2004-08-13T21:34:04Z")
Ooops that should read: > [@](#): > > It was a thread discussing a contentious editorial. ---
**Author:** ![Jadis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@Jadis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jadis)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/235 "2004-08-13T22:46:09Z")
Is anyone besides me finding this thread really amusing in a [Poke The Bunny](http://www.platinumgrit.com/poke.html) sort of way? ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/236 "2004-08-13T23:22:03Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Ok, Chotii, I can respect that answer (don’t agree, but there are a zillion ways to raise children, and you wouldn’t agree with mine either)… next question. If a woman has a five year old that still breastfeeds, is it still appropriate to breastfeed that child in Starbucks? I can tell you that the only circumstances under which _I_ would find it appropriate to breastfeed a five year old in Starbucks would be for comfort if said child fell down or somehow other really _really_ hurt himself (big crack on the head, big, obvious bruise elsewhere, big scrape or cut not requiring emergency medical attention). I have, in fact, breastfed my then-4-year-old daughter in a Target store because she fell down and _really_ hit her head on a shelf. She was instantly comforted, and this seemed preferable to me to letting her scream, telling her to get over it, or ‘big girls don’t cry’ or any other approach I consider disrespectful to the amount of pain she was in. Other than that, no. Of course, the OP was about a 14 month old baby, not a 5 year old preschooler. And that’s a big difference to me. ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/237 "2004-08-13T23:37:49Z")
> [@jfortun](#): > > An off-topic question for Chotii- and please don’t think I am judging you in any way: but I am curious as to why (according to your posts anyway) you don’t use the normal word “breasts” when speaking to your children? We know another couple who refuse to use words like penis, vagina, breasts, etc with their children and instead always use euphemisms. I never really understood why so I always assumed it was embarassment but I never had the guts to ask and get the real reason. When I am teaching my children about the parts of the body I use the normal words: (daddy has a penis, mommy has a vagina, the baby is born through the vagina, your urine comes out your ureter/urethra, you have nipples, when you’re a grown woman you will have breasts). However, I differentiate, as it were, between body parts _as_ body parts…and body parts in their nuturing function. I suppose it’s no different really from calling your baby “mister poopie stinkypants”, for example, in an affectionate tone when he has a dirty diaper. Why say ‘poop’ anyway? Why not talk about ‘fecal matter’ and ‘defecation’? Also, by the way, this makes it a little easier in public to ask a pre-verbal child “Would you like to nurse? Would you like some nursie?” rather than “Hey kid, want to suck on my breast?” Uh. I think I would get a lot of stares for that. And maybe harrassed for…inappropriate talk with my children. Nor do I want a toddler wailing “Boobie! Boobie!” or worse, “Bweast! Bweast!” at me, in public or anywhere else. We find that ‘nursie’ or ‘num-num’ works fine as a code word. It has nothing to do with teaching my kids the “right” words. For a better explanation of my approach, without me having to type it all out again, see [this thread](http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&th=cc35519f543652b8&rnum=6) in alt.parenting.twins-triplets via google (search on ‘chotii’, the name I use there also), where a number of parents and I discussed how we talk to our kids about body parts. I was, incidentally, one of the most plain-spoken of the parents who replied, so much so that a couple of the other parents were just _shocked_ at how I could be so matter of fact with my kids about their own bodies. I think in short, I use words like ‘num-nums’ and ‘nursies’ because they are publically-polite code words, as well as the kinds of words babies themselves will assign to “their” beloved breasts if they nurse beyond the age where they become verbal. So it becomes a term of endearment associated with, and only with, suckling a young child. Not too complicated. And not to do with embarrassement. ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/238 "2004-08-13T23:44:34Z")
> [@cher3](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by ntucker > > Why is it rude to look at a breastfeeding woman? > > I meant that it is generally considered rude to stare at any stranger in a public place. People seemed to be suggesting that they would be subjected to the prolonged spectacle of a nursing mother, when, in fact, unless they purposely prolong it, they would only give her a glance or two, just as they would with anyone else. The odd thing is, to this day, after 7 pretty much unbroken years of feeding one child or another, I _still_ don’t quite know where to look if someone is breastfeeding a child around me. To be honest, I’d _like_ to watch. To look until my curiosity is satisfied. Not for sexual reasons, but because, after doing it myself for so long, I’ve really never seen anyone else do it. You know, maybe to see their technique, or even to offer advice on positioning, or whatever. But I can’t look either. It’d be considered rude. The best I usually manage is to give such a mom a thumbs-up for being brave enough to feed her baby in public. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/239 "2004-08-13T23:55:27Z")
If you nurse for comfort I can see that. We just have a different line, I guess. I’m one of those people who really goes out of my way not to inconvience others with my children. At the age of four and five they’ve probably only been inside Target twenty times in their life. I have the luxury of being able to leave them with my husband when I go shopping. So it sort of shocks me that anyone would be in a place like Starbucks long enough to nurse (now McDonald’s Playland - I can completely see needing a nurse a toddler there). ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378/240 "2004-08-14T00:02:08Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > How about it, mothers of the SDMB? After you gave birth, was “getting your body back” a primary concern? IOW, was nursing your child a huge PITA, something you wanted to be over with as soon a possible, an unplesant experience you just wanted to be done with? Well. I can tell you that I got heartily tired of being pregnant and on bedrest. Yes, I wanted “my life” back. I had early thrush and nipple injury problems that made early lactation a struggle all 3 times, and only by willpower did I persevere. I got very tired of pumping 8X/day for my non-orally-fed child, but I did it for 21 months because it was the best thing in the world for her, what with her stomach problems and food intolerances. I was glad to be done with that. I do not enjoy nursing a gymnastic toddler. \*\*BUT I am willing to subsume \*\* (if that’s the right word) **my own comfort and preferences for the greater good of the child** in moderation. And of course, the older the child gets, the more I get to define the terms of what ‘moderation’ means. I have a neighbor, however, who did express precisely this attitude (wanted to get the 6-week nursing period over with as soon as possible). I have a sister in law whose firstborn got only 2 weeks of nursing, after which point she found it too large a demand on herself, and her second wasn’t nursed at all for \. So of course the attitude does exist, and is no doubt quite common. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-push-for-public-breastfeeding-policy-at-starbucks-stage-nurse-in/259378.md?page=13)