Jesus-Criminy-Christ-in-a-bottle! What planet are you from??? 
So if Mom is lactating so much that her dress is being stained, then she can just clamp on Jr. to take care of things, whether he’s really hungry or not. Kind of takes away from the argument that public breastfeeding HAS to be done in all cases.
If the infant needs to be fed, public breastfeeding is one thing. But if it’s done for the mother’s convenience (like so her dress doesn’t get stained :rolleyes: ), or even worse, to make some kind of political point, it’s downright rude.
I think you are missing the point somewhat.
When I was breastfeeding my son, I had a very short window of time between when he usually ate and having my shirt soaked (if I wasn’t wearing one of those little pad things in my bra). The breasts actually fill with milk when you aren’t feeding, and at the time that your baby normally eats, they begin to lactate. In some cases, there’s no such thing as “slowly staining” anything. And if you don’t let the baby eat, you will pay for it. The baby pays, by not being fed on time and by crying. The customers pay, because the baby is crying. And guess what crying frequently does to a breastfeeing mom? It makes her lactate.
Equating breastfeeding, or even lactating with “anal seepage” is beyond crass. Get over yourself.
(Emphasis mine.) Uh, who ever said the discomfort has anything to do with sex?
I just don’t want to see another woman’s breasts. I just don’t. It’s just not appropriate in public. Just like I don’t want to see your butt, your stomach, your genitals, your armpits, or whatever. I would never want to expose my breasts in public for any reason. If I were breastfeeding, I would take appropriate steps to avoid that situation.
I think that throughout history, women have always strived to be as discreet as possible about breastfeeding. It seems to be a common theme in unwritten social code that certain bodily functions are not appropriate in public, no matter how natural.
Not really. I hear the average worldwide age of weaning is 3 or 4 years.
Point the first: You strike me as a victim of some strange puritanical ethic, and somewhat damaged. I pity you.
Point the second: Cite please. Throughout history? I will take some convincing on that little theory
So, who died and made you the sole arbiter of nastiness? I personally find nothing particularly nasty about farts, toenails, or belching. They’re all just perfectly natural bodily functions. You might want to ask yourself if deciding that some body functions are okay and others are nasty is a healthy psychological response.
Trishka, the blanket barrier is exactly what it sounds like. You take a light blanket, like the type most babies have in their carriers anyway, and put it around the baby’s head so that it sticks up a couple of inches. Unless you make a huge production out of arranging the blanket, there’s no reason for it to attract any more attention than you would anyway. Nobody has to see any part of your boob, and your baby isn’t inconvenienced in any way. Everybody wins, without anybody having to make a big fuss over the subject.
Binarydrone, I’ll have to remember that line about being damaged and pitiable the next time someone asks me to please not discuss blood, tumors, and maggots at the dinner table. Obviously, these people have an unhealthy attitude toward perfectly natural processes and should be pitied.
I believe the actual median age is more like 2.8 years. But then, vast numbers of babies never breastfeed at all, for medical reasons or social reasons. Or only for a couple of weeks.
As for 15 month old children being too old…
Goodness me, no. If you think about it, most mammals suckle at least sporadically until they begin to get their adult teeth, and many of us have seen yearling colts and calves who still nursed (and were allowed to do so by their mothers, next to which they were nearly as large. A human child’s immune system is still developing until they are 6 or 7 years old, and ‘toddler milk’, while smaller in quantity than milk for newborns, is higher in concentration of immunoglobins.
The digestibility, protein, etc of human milk never becomes useless to a young child. Certainly a young child can eat many things if adequately processed - you can feed a baby pureed meat, for instance - but you can’t give him a steak or even a hamburger, because he has neither the teeth nor the muscular development in the jaw to chew it. You can feed him cow’s or goat’s milk - if it doesn’t bother him, or give him eczema - but the logic of milk from another species being better or more appropriate or more moral for an older infant… when there’s perfectly good human milk available…is lost on me.
Of course, I’m a firm believer in child-led weaning. You know: “If they’re young enough to ask for it, they’re too young to wean.” My oldest nursed until she was five. My middlest got weaned by necessity during my last pregnancy, else she would have nursed for another year or so, I think. This baby (now 12 months old) will nurse until she’s ready to stop.
I do put certain limits after they acquire enough language to understand: We only nurse at home, unless someone gets hurt. And, I pack enough snacks so that a hungry baby can be put off until I can get home. But, if I do nurse in public, it’s laughable to suggest I go to the bathroom (and sit where? On the toilet? They don’t provide spare chairs in there. And what if someone comes in and needs to use the toilet? And what shall I do with my other kids while I’m in there? Crowd them into the stall with me?) or that I cover my kid with a blanket. Look, this kid refused to be swaddled from age 2 days. Period. Would not be swaddled. Fought with everything in her until she got free. She’s not going to let me put a blanket over her head. She’ll pull it down as many times as I put it up. This would be far more likely to draw attention than simply rucking up the hem of my t-shirt and popping her on.
Anyway, basically…no. 15 months is not too old, for a great number of reasons, provided that mother and child both wish to continue. It never ceases to provide nutrition or immunity factors, and as long as the child finds it comforting, there’s that too.
I have no problem with a woman breastfeeding her child in public and support any woman willing and able to breastfeed at all.
What I don’t get is why, if so many people seem to have a problem with public breastfeeding, aren’t there adequate facilities in public places to accommodate women who may be willing to compromise? Here in Australia, in every single shopping center I’ve been in, there has been a Parents Room. Some of them are nicer than others, but every one I’ve been in provides comfortable chairs (some with screens around them, some not), a play area for older kids, changing facilities, sinks & microwaves for food preparation, and a toilet in a separate room (usually with child-sized toilets and sinks in the same room and plenty of room for a stroller). The one in the nicer mall near me has a door that opens when you pass your palm over a sensor. That way you don’t have to struggle with packages, stroller, and kids as you get in the place.
Like I said, I have no problem with seeing a woman breastfeeding (actually, it makes me feel happy and makes me want to kiss and cuddle my own baby), but I don’t see why accommodation couldn’t be made for the women who would maybe prefer to have a clean, private area where they could feed their kids that isn’t a toilet.
And yet you’re NOT starting threads about people who wear crop-tops. Or tank tops. One exposes the stomach; the other exposes the armpits. Where’s the pit thread about those things? How about bikinis? A one-piece suit is just as good for swimming, and doesn’t show any midriff.
Let’s take a machine back, back, back in time to…oh, 1890? Good enough.
I just don’t want to see another woman’s ankles. I just don’t. It’s not appropriate in public. Just like I don’t want to see your ladies’ private areas, your elbows, or whatever. I would never want to expose my ankles in public for any reason. If my skirts became too short, I would take appropriate steps to avoid that situation.
A stupid comparison? Yeah, maybe. Less so, IMNPFHO, than comparisons of let-down to anal leakage, and breastfeeding to gassing out an entire restaurant lobby.
[QUOTE=nyctea scandiaca]
I just don’t want to see another woman’s breasts. I just don’t. It’s just not appropriate in public. Just like I don’t want to see your butt, your stomach, your genitals, your armpits, or whatever. I would never want to expose my breasts in public for any reason. If I were breastfeeding, I would take appropriate steps to avoid that situation.
Are said body parts offensive in and of themselves, or would you say nudity is “appropriate” in certain situations, such as a locker room? And if it’s appropriate in a locker room, why wouldn’t it be appropriate for breast feeding?
It’s just a body. Everyone has one, no one has anything you haven’t seen before. Why draw arbitrary lines where it’s acceptable to show them and where it’s not?
I agree with those of you who say that not every “natural” bodily function is appropriate in public; that’s obvious. However, I do think a distinction can be made between breast feeding and say, eliminating, nose-picking, copulating, etc.: breast feeding isn’t smelly, or messy, or unsanitary, and does not disturb others (except those who are aghast at an inch or two of flesh–and I’d say that falls squarely into the “Their Problem” column).
[QUOTE=Chotii]
Look, this kid refused to be swaddled from age 2 days. Period. Would not be swaddled. Fought with everything in her until she got free. She’s not going to let me put a blanket over her head. She’ll pull it down as many times as I put it up. This would be far more likely to draw attention than simply rucking up the hem of my t-shirt and popping her on.
How is it possible for a breast-feeding infant to pull down a blanket that’s behind her? Is she a baby contortionist or something? 
I kid, but seriously, you don’t have to “swaddle” her, just hold up a corner of the blanket behind her like a mini-curtain (if you’re interested in appeasing the prudes; as I’ve said, I don’t care).
By the way, how do y’all get the quotes to appear in the little boxes?
I think you’re missing the point, which is not just that mom is lactating so much and it’s necessarily for her needs but more about the connection that the mother and child have to each other. There was no freakier a sensation that the first time my breast began to tingle when my son was crying. If you really want to know that yes, you are an animal and yes, you are a lactating, mammalian animal, it’s to experience letdown and wet your top and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.
The point is that if you need to feed, you need to feed.
I was breastfed until I was 2 years old (that’s 24 months) and although my mom got some shit for it, she was happy with her decision. I’m planning to breastfeed my child (due in November) for a year if I can.
Anyway, I am unclear on the argument of actually *seeing * a breast while the infant is nursing. When I see women breastfeeding their children (very common here in non-prudish Europe, I mean, cripes, there are topless women sunbathing in the park down the street) I don’t actually see any part of the breast, just the child’s head. Typically, before the child is released from the breast, the mother tends to cover herself with her shirt or snaps up her nursing bra and nothing is ever seen.
My mind is truly boggled by someone, especially a woman, who would be freaked out by a glimpsing a breastfeeding mother. What year is this? Truly, I believe women who choose to breastfeed deserve nothing but help and support from the public. The rewards of breastfeeding benefit all of society and it should be encouraged instead of scorned.
Actually Trishka, I think you misunderstood me.
I have an issue when people don’t respect other people’s boundries and are inconsiderate. I think people who are inconsiderate have an issue. I think that when you breastfeed a fifteen month old in public, you are probably being inconsiderate - although there are perhaps cases where you are not. So, I have an “issue” over manners and I think that people that are inconsiderate have an issue.
I actually have no issue watching a fifteen month old breastfeed. I have an issue watching a stranger make a case out of having a fifteen month old breastfeed in Starbucks. I also have NO issue out of a stranger making a case out of having an infant breastfeed in Starbucks. The thing is - infants require demand feeding and require it frequently - toddlers don’t. A well mannered mother should be able to plan her toddlers feedings around a trip to Starbucks - and a fifteen month old should start to learn that the demand to nurse (and other things he wants right now) are not always met.
I do have - and this is perhaps my issue - a problem with toddlers who treat their mothers like a snack bar. I’ve watched several aquaintences not set any boundries on breastfeeding (and yes, infants need demand feeding), and breastfeed for a long time. A three year old nursing a few times a day doesn’t bother me. A three year old climbing up on mom’s lap while she is in the middle of a conversation, undoing her shirt, pulling out her breast and starting to suckle, then 45 seconds later, running off to play, with this repeated several times over a few hours visit, does bug the heck out of me. I think it shows a child that hasn’t learned to respect his mother as an individual. Its the same sort of problem I have with people who allow their kids free reign to candy, order their toddlers pop in restaurants, or bring them over to my house before I had children and then don’t supervise them adequately (hello, no children here - what are the chances I have outlet covers!).
By the way, anyone making the argument that they need to breastfeed in public due to “instant letdown” should consider that many woman have instant letdown hearing someone else’s baby cry. You aren’t going to grab my kid and start feeding him to prevent your soaked shirt. Wear a nursing pad.
I get that you don’t want to see another woman’s breasts.
But believing that “it’s not appropriate in public” is incompatible with some logical truths. You’re mixing up <i>your own feelings</i> with some sort of social norm–and you’re suggesting that everyone does (or should) feel this way!
Many people don’t. And not because they <i> like</i> seeing women’s breasts.
I don’t know about this “unwritten social code” you’re talking about. I’d agree we have some agreed-upon notions about nudity, certain bodily functions in public, and so on, but <i>breastfeeding is not one of them</i>. Common sense and public law do not agree with what you are claiming.
And although you didn’t say specifically that you think seeng a breast was similar to seeing something sexual, I made that connection because I can see no other reason why an informed person would be squeamish about seeing nursing in public. Not seeing a breast–we’re not talking about that–we’re talking about seeing part of a breast while a mother is nursing.
You mentioned that you are also upset by seeing someone’s stomach. Do current fashions make you uncomfortable?
Not only am I not understanding this blanket barrier of which you speak, I know if I’d tried to place anything around my baby’s head, he would’ve just grabbed it and started flinging it around. And I’m still not getting the why of using it at all. Is it to cover up the microbit of the top of my tit?!?
Here’s how I went about breastfeeding:
Position baby across my lap, head positioned in front of breast
Lift shirt and bra
Latch baby onto nipple
Done! Nothing to see here, folks, move along. With the baby’s head already positioned in front of the breast, there’s no way to see the bared boob from the front. Maybe if you were sitting to the side of me, you might see something but I think you’d really have to be staring to catch a glimpse before the baby latches on.
I don’t have a picture of me nursing but it would look something like this:
http://www.breastfeeding.com/art_gallery/art_images/album_felker1_sm.jpg
From this side, like this:
http://www.breastfeeding.com/art_gallery/art_images/album_heather3.jpg
And even if you were to be standing over me, it would look like this:
http://www.breastfeeding.com/art_gallery/art_images/album_temple1_sm.jpg
[QUOTE=Chotii]
My oldest nursed until she was five.
I’m sorry, but this I can’t help but find a little oogy. I admit I have no kids and know nothing about child-rearing. They’re your kids and you can breast feed them until they’re married if you want to; it’s not my business.
But still…five? :eek:
Even if there are no long-term psychological ramifications to that, I have to say I’m glad I quit breast feeding when I was still too young to remember it. I seriously would not want to be 33 years old with memories of sucking my mother’s breasts.
Nothing new there. 
[QUOTE=nyctea scandiaca]
I just don’t want to see another woman’s breasts. I just don’t.
[QUOTE]
This is easily rectified by averting your eyes.
[QUOTE=nyctea scandiaca]
I would never want to expose my breasts in public for any reason. If I were breastfeeding, I would take appropriate steps to avoid that situation.
[QUOTE]
That’s your decision and your choice to make. But know that just because you have a hangup with exposing yourself doesn’t mean that other women must share your hang up.