Agreed! With discretion, I am totally fine with it.

More power to you, Persephone's Addiction! Your post cracked me up. I am going to remember that blanket line.

I hope to have the confidence to be like you if/when I have a baby to nurse. I agree that it would be nice to reacquaint the culture with breastfeeding. I think it's great that you are approachable about it.

I've seen people breastfeed and sometimes I have felt uncomfortable *because it is not something I see often* but I don't stare. It's really not that hard to look away and give the people their privacy. I totally support people who breastfeed in public, however they want to do it.

Thank you.

Good for you for feeding that baby when he needed it, and I LOVE the "put a blanket over your OWN head" comment. I have seen T Shirts which say this, and I wish they had them when my babies were small. My youngest is 11, (and I nursed her for (mumbles...3 or 4 years or so. She was a pre term baby and rather sickly from her premature birth, and didn't eat too many solids and she was my last one and....I'm not making excuses. I did what the kid needed.) and it's been a while since I nursed a baby. But, I did it everywhere and anywhere. (When she turned about 18 months or so we decided though, for HER safety that waiting until we got home was the safest route. Most toddlers don't need to or even want to nurse in public all that much anyway. There is way too much going on.)

I have been known to tell people who gasp and say, "What if someone sees your nipple?" Me: "Well, if they haven't seen one yet, it's about time they did. IMO, they should have seen them when they were a baby. I'm doing a public service." I was a rather militant breastfeeder, too.

wow so childish, babies have to eat too

EF is about being open, accepting, learning and being respectful of other viewpoints. We can all bring something to the table and take something away as well as long as we are all respectful- this includes honoring sincere apologies. Blinker has already apologized multiple times for her statements. She was not exposed to breastfeeding growing up so it seemed strange to her. She has said that she has learned quite a bit and gained a new perspective on the subject so let's not resort to name-calling, okay? The greatest thing about EF is the diversity and respect its community has for each other!

I know that that's your opinion and you're entitled to it, but it's a rather ignorant opinion. I, in fact, think it very much is a sacred right. Women have been, for thousands of years, breast feeding. Nourishing their children. Modern society has practically deemed the boob to be unholy, and because of this women who choose to breast feed are ostracized. If a woman happens to be out having lunch with her friends and she has her child, why should she have to be relegated to some nasty public restroom to feed her child if the child gets hungry? Why should she have to get up from her meal and interrupt her conversation to do something so natural and so human? Should she just have to stay at home and not live a normal life just because she breast feeds? Absolutely not! Attitudes like this just perpetuate the idea that women are second-class citizens. That their womanhood needs to be censored. It just amazes and frustrates me that in this day and age people can still can still have these ignorant attitudes.

Like the Supreme Court Justice once famously stated to the question; How do decide when pornography is offensive? He responded 'I know it when I see it'

It kind of reminds me of seeing a guy on his knees giving a BJ on the streets of New Orleans.

Actually "exposure laws" DO NOT apply to breastfeeding babies in all states in the USA! It is not "indecent exposure" to breastfeed in public anywhere and in most states, there are actually statutes on the books reaffirming that a woman has alegal right to feed an infant anywhere she and the infant have a legal right to be. No matter what is "showing" or whether a "blanket" is used or not.

Most of us who have actually nursed babies for a significant period of time KNOW most babies CANNOT eat with a blanket over their head. Thus, Persephone's clever "Don't like to see my baby breastfeeding, put a blanket over your head.] T shirt. (I don't mean YOU individually, but this comment is gaining popularity with mothers who KNOW their babies need to eat.) And know that most babies simply will NOT eat with their heads covered. I suggest anyone who insists a nursing child be "covered up" try eating an entire meal with a full sized blanket over their head and body and see just how uncomfortable it really IS!

HUH? I am assuming you are not informed about the mechanics of lactation. And how easily those mechanics may break down, especially when a "bottle" is introduced. SOME of us simply "cannot bottle feed." And also, I want to mention that human milk loses some (but not all) of it's nutrients and anti biological features when pumped and placed into a container, It is BEST right from the source.

We don't use bottles in our house, EVER! In some states, it is actually against the law to harass or interfere with a woman breastfeeding her child.

To reiterate then I'm gonna shut up, unless someone uses the word "gross" again, there is NOTHING "Gross" about a child who needs to EAT! No more "gross" than anyone else "eating in public."

To reiterate: (As I've already SAID this and some people don't read the entire thread before posting)
Being a Lactation Nurse, my job is to help Moms and babies work this whole breastfeeding thing out. The thing is most babies, especially in the beginning, cannot just "take a bottle" while Mom is out because Nipple Confusion will screw up their ability to suckle properly. And the Mom's supply gets wonky, if she pumps too early, instead of feeding then DOESN'T feed when the baby is needing it.

Basically, for the first year or so, for breastfeeding to work, the baby has to get the breast, when ever and where ever they need it. A Baby's wants and needs are the same thing, so if they "ask" to nurse, they need to nurse. And, when they are hungry, they can not wait. Hunger is physically painful for babies.

Then, if you count in Nipple Confusion in my practice I see this as the Number One thing that fucks up breastfeeding. Most babies CANNOT learn to breastfeed if there are bottles in the picture, the sucking on the bottle and suckling from the breast are to TOTALLY different physiological activities, and when the baby is learning to breastfeed (basically at least the first 8 to 12 weeks, minimum) if they get a bottle SOME (most) babies will have trouble the next time they nurse and some will even refuse to nurse. SO, to prevent nipple confusion, many Moms decide "no bottles" to keep breastfeeding up and going. There are some kids who can go back and forth, but it is more common for the bottles to mess up any progress for at least the first 12 weeks.

I know my oldest got terrible Nipple Confusion. They gave her a bottle before I even got a chance to feed her, and after that, she would scream every time she looked at my breast, the freaking nurses in the hospital (not listening to me) gave her bottles while I was sleeping, instead of waking me up, and it took me FOUR months to teach her to breastfeed properly because of the fucking bottles. I was NOT an LC then. It should NOT take this long, but I had no one to help me, but a few nice La Leche league Leaders, (There were few Lactation Consultants when I had my oldest baby) they were great, but I had to fix the Nipple Confusion myself. I worked on it for months, feeding her when she was nearly sleeping, walking while nursing, so she wouldn't "notice" feeding her with a cup or an eyedropper, and sometimes she would still refuse to nurse for a day or so at a time. I just keep working at it.

Actually, when My Man finally took ALL the bottles (which I was still using at least once a day, while "trying" to teach this confused baby how to breastfeed, and every time she got a bottle it would screw up again) and put them in a garbage bag and put them on the curb! THEN we got it going No bottles, we fixed it. Baptism by fire. It worked.

Also, like many women I HATE pumping. I've done it when I have to (like when I was going to have to work a few hours (which is all I would do with babies, or see clients) but I REFUSE to get that damn pump out every time I leave the house for more than 2 hours. My breasts are right there, my baby is right there, the milk is actually best right from the breast, so I ALWAYS breastfed in public. Every kid, anywhere. (When I did pump, My Man would give our babies my milk in a little shot glass, to avoid Nipple Confusion. THIS is the way to do it, but I refuse to pump my milk when the baby is going to be WITH me, it is counter-intuitive and simply ridiculous.

I figure, if ONE person saw me nursing (and I was discreet) and thought, "Oh, that isn't too bad, at least that baby isn't crying and ruining my dinner." then I was not only just feeding my kid, and emptying my breasts (which would hurt, if my baby was crying and I wasn't nursing her, but instead giving even pumped milk in a bottle) but I was also teaching people and normalizing a NORMAL thing to do with babies.


This worked for us, and I see it work for my clients. Mileage may vary, but if you get a baby who is susceptible to Nipple Confusion, every bottle will just add to the problem. And you don't know if you have one of the 80% to 90% of babies who WILL get Nipple Confusion in the first 12 weeks, UNTIL you give that first bottle. So, in our house, we simply didn't use them at all, after being whacked with a major case of all night screaming, depressed Mama (I couldn't give birth vaginally, even after a 54 hour labor and 3 and half hrs of pushing, so I figured, "If I can't do this breastfeeding thing.....") So, for me, it was a "MUST DO." and Nipple Confused Baby, we said "Never again" and the babies then rarely left my side, but if they did, they were fed without bottles. Many woman simply don't want to give bottles OR can't (I always say, "I failed as a bottle feeder.") so, as a baby's stomach can empty of human milk in as little as 20 minutes after a full feed, due to it's digestibility (or as long as 3 hours) if Mom wants to EVER leave the house, she HAS TO "breastfeed in public."

When I see a Mom nursing in public, I usually give her a thumbs up and a smile. Smile I know there are cases when breastfeeding doesn't work out, so I always give new Moms with babies a smile, no matter HOW they are feeding, though. I don't know their situation, it isn't my business, and I LOVE babies and new moms, so it's all making me happy.

That's my take on it.

However, if someone "told me" to "put that shit in a bottle........" I would simply tell them EVERY FREAKING THING I just posted here in addition to telling them they are breaking the law by harassing a nursing woman....

By that point, my baby would be finished nursing and I could walk away with a smile, a satisfied baby and hopefully ONE better informed person.