Wow, several more posts appeared in the time it took me to write that. Sorry about any repetition. To Dangerosa in particular–I really didn’t mean to commit plagiarism. 
I don’t think that expecting mothers to be discreet while breastfeeding is that outlandish. It’s not like I think they shouldn’t be allowed to do it in public, they should, but if you don’t want to be discreet I can see where there’s a problem.
No one’s saying to cover up with a wool blanket. Women should use a light blanket, a towel, or even their shirt to kind of cover it up a bit. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but it’s not something you need to advertise either.
I’ve been around a number of breastfeeding women, in public and in private. I think it’s generally a modest exercise. Heck, I’ve seen photos of a topless woman breatfeeding, and I’m hear to tell you that the breast being nursed wasn’t much visible at all. Yes, a clothed mom who nurses her baby will likely reveal a little more curve than usual, but overall I think what is titillating or offensive to people is the idea of it, that the usual several layers of clothing have been pushed aside, that mom and baby are skin-to-skin, face-to-breast, the knowledge that the nipple is being sucked.
Granted, someone who is staring at a mom in shocked outrage is more likely to get a glimpse of aereola when the baby is latching or is being readjusted.
I fart in your general direction.
They’re only boobs. I am in the try-to-be-discreet camp, but babies gotta eat. I can’t comprehend what is so indecent about feeding a hungry baby. The only time I’ve ever seen nipple during breastfeeding was when a friend fed her baby at home, where modesty is not an issue. In public, I never saw a thing.
I’d far rather see boobs hanging out (not that they usually do when a mom is nursing) than have to listen to a screaming hungry baby.
It’s just a boob. Right. And evidently her ire was roused because somebody asked her to cover up with a blanket and she refused because it was “too uncomfortable.” Note that nobody told her that she couldn’t breastfeed at all, just that they wished she would make a minor concession.
So what we have here is another example of one of the less attractive qualitites of life in America: a barky twit with too much time on her hands who just has to make a huge fucking deal out of a non-issue.
Nope. Actually, in many countries, children are breastfed up until 3-4 years of age. Granted, that is sometimes because there are less adequate food sources available.
Many breastfeeding women allow the child to “self wean” aka decide when he/she is ready to give up nursing which means that nursing could potentially extend well beyond the child’s 1st birthday.
I wouldn’t complain about a person breastfeeding in public, and yes there is always the option to avert your eyes. As long as the person in question doesn’t complain when I scooch up next to them and begin to stare, point, and salivate, I’d call it even.
Sounds like you need to bring your own Mom when you go out.
Like Yeticus Rex, I find it amusing that this woman is a conflict resolution trainer. She’s in Maryland, which mandates that women be allowed to breastfeed in such venues, but acts on an urge to make a bigger conflict out of it.
I’ve got no problem with breastfeeding as a limited exception to the usual ‘shirts and shoes required’ rules. Most breastfeeding women breastfeed their babies without its being particularly noticeable. Sure, someone every once in awhile might just whip out her entire breast to feed her child, but that’s fine with me: those who want to look, can look; those who want to look away, can do that.
My only caveat is, if a woman whips her breast out, she’d better not raise a stink if us guys look, because we will. Tough titties. 
I think the crux of the issue is the age-old story of men blaming women for their (the men’s) sexual attraction to them. Men are aroused by breasts, therefore women are expected to keep them concealed. I’d go so far as to liken it to Muslim women being forced to remain covered head-to-toe in loose-fitting garments, lest they be considered wicked, sinful, impure, etc.
Ahh the ‘your mama!’ jokes. Excellent.
Is it reasonable for women to breastfeed in public? - yes.
Is it reasonable to expect a breastfeeding woman engage in some discretion? - yes. Its no more polite to open your entire shirt while braless and fuss around in the diaper bag completely exposed before removing your child from their basket and latching them on than it is to loudly annouce “BOY, that was one hell of a loud stinky fart I just had!”
It is, however, not realistic to expect someone never to have a loud stinky fart. It happens - sometimes unexpectedly and indiscreetly. And sometime babies don’t breastfeed discreetly. Mine never nursed under a blanket. Course, she’d never nurse in public, never nurse with an audience of more than Daddy, never nurse unless I was sitting a certain way - preferrably in a certain chair…
Anyone with a fifteen month old that needs to feed in Starbucks has an issue, though. Babies need to feed on demand - and I’ll fully support any woman’s right to nurse her four month old on a moments notice pretty much anyplace - and if it needs to be done with her shirt wide open and her baby making orgasmic happy sucking noises (moms who breastfed know what I’m talking about) tough cookies on the comfort level of the person sitting next to her (who probably has bad BO anyway, making the person next to him uncomfortable). Toddlers need to have some limits set and a reasonable limit for a toddler is “the snack bar isn’t open when Mommy is at Starbucks.” That starts getting in the range of Mommy being an ass and putting her “right” to breastfeed above other people’s comfort level. Right there with my right to free speech allowing me to annouce the status of my bodily functions. If you anticipate your fifteen month old will want to nurse while you spend what? - thirty minutes? - in Starbucks, nurse before you arrive or bring a sippy cup with water or juice or pumped milk. Toddlers do not need to feed every two hours like an infant.
I just meant that scooching, pointing, and salivating is most likely how the 1-year-old asked to be fed. Breastfeeding is exempt from the “no shirt, no shoes, no service rule.” It’s also exempt from the “you have to bring enough for everybody” rule.
Question for folks in this thread:
How old would the breastfeeding kid have to be before you personally were made uncomfortable by the situation?
If you saw a six year old breastfeeding, would that make you uncomfortable? (That kind of thing)
I missed the part about her job, but didn’t miss the part about her refusing to cover up because it would make her “uncomfortable” (so therfore it is O.K. for her to make others uncomfortabe). She doesn’t sound like the kind of person I would want to resolve my conflicts.
Catsix, I think a lot of the big deal is people’s differing definitions of “discreet.” To some people, discreet means they aren’t flopping the entire breast directly into someone else’s face. To other people, discreet means no one has any clue the mother has her shirt opened or raised at all. Most folks fall somewhere in between.
The other part of the big deal is that there are a handful of breastfeeding advocates who shriek in rage if you suggest that seeing a nursing mother isn’t the most glorious sight in the world. Myself, I’ve never understood what the big deal is about asking someone to put up a blanket barrier (not covering the baby’s head, mind you, but wadding a light receiving blanket into a wall that sticks up a few inches above the head so nobody who isn’t standing over your shoulder can see any breast), but I’ve seen breastfeeding advocates nearly blow a gasket at the suggestion. (This was on a different MB, where we actually had to explain to a woman why her coworkers felt it was inappropriate for her to bring her baby into a board meeting and breastfeed there.) It certainly seems like a feasible solution that would satisfy pretty much everybody–no one sees her breast or the breastfeeding itself, baby isn’t hot, dark, unable to see Mom, or any other sort of inconvenience.
Another part of the puzzle is probably that everyone has their own definitions of what’s disgusting or inappropriate. I personally find nothing disgusting or inappropriate about discussing my day at work with my husband. It’s the most natural thing in the world to want to share your day with your spouse. I’ve had plenty of breastfeeding advocates, however, tell me that something so natural as a woman bonding with her husband is disgusting and inappropriate, because of the nature of my work. You just don’t discuss such things at the table. Well, you do at my house. Of course, at my house you don’t whip your boob out at the table. When you’re making the distinction between talking about “disgusting” things vs. sharing your day with someone you love, or whipping your boob out at the table vs. feeding your baby, it’s all a matter of perspective.
Since nobody else has said it yet, I will: that line was absolutely inspired.
Popular and ignorant public perception is a conspiracy currently being carried out by the “Girls Gone Wild” folks.
If you let everyone get desensitized to women’s tits, no one will be compelled to fork over their $19.95 at 3:00am anymore.
Seriously though, the people who want the freedom to breastfeed on their own terms, in public, are not the problem. The popular and ignorant public perception is the problem. Being discreet does nothing to adress why so many people are brainwashed into thinking that they should feel uncomfortable in such a context. Treat the cause, don’t shove the benevolent facet of the symptom into a dark corner. It is much more efficient, healthier, and better all around for the many to instead understand and debunk their flawed programming.
Well I guess the idea is to come to some kind of reasonable middle ground then.
If this mom is one of those ‘lay that tit right on the table’ moms and the vast majority of the patrons in the Starbucks that day are more the ‘just open up your shirt and don’t show more skin than is necessary kind’, there’s got to be some kind of agreement that could be made.
Mom at a more out of the way table with a blanket in front of her so that she can have her breasts totally out, but the other patrons don’t feel it’s shoved in their faces… something like that.