Breast Feeding

Okay, so im gonna start by saying… I absolutely support uncovered, public breastfeeding. However… I do think there is a modest way to do it….. the not so modest way is where my problem is…..

So heres the scenario. We're at registration for the kids school yesterday. A woman has a baby in a carseat/stroller combo. She is screaming, because she's hungry. Ive been there. it sucks. Mom is getting ready to nurse her, in a very public place, with many preteen boys. Mom proceeds to pull her boob completely out of her shirt, and let it hang there, while she not only gets said screaming baby out of her carseat, but she actually has to UNBUCKLE her. I can't tell you how many people were staring. Not adults so much as these pre teen boys. This is the breast feeding that everyone is expected to be okay with? I for one am not.

 Not because I don't support breast feeding. Not because I find it in any way sexual. Not because i think we should cover when we feed our kids. But because Im the mom of pre teen boys. Pre teen boys that are fully aware that boobs are for feeding babies. But also are in that weird phase where boobs are also fun to look at, and make things…. well, happen down there. Boobs are exciting to pre teen boys. Regardless of whether they're feeding a kid or not.

I breast fed all of my kids. Some even consider my self led weening, extended. We went 15 months with 2, and 18 months with the middle one. I will nurse this one as long as he wants to nurse too. I nursed in public, both covered and uncovered. But never did i let my boob hang out while i messed with a carseat and got a kid latched. Isn't there such a thing as MODEST breast feeding? Not because its embarrassing or disgusting to nurse our babies, but because there are young impressionable minds that can't yet differentiate between something that isn't sexual at all, and something that IS? My husband has asked me how breast feeding our boys differs from when he and I are intimate- you all know what I'm implying here….. The fact is a man may not be able to separate the two. and if a grown man can't, isn't it asking a bit much for my 9 year old to?

I feel like since all of this breast feeding stuff has come about, women push the envelope more and more. as to say, i dare you to say something to me. is it really about our ability to nurse our babies in public anymore? or is it about allow us to parade our bodies around in the name of breast feeding? All of these people saying try to eat your lunch under a blanket…. I'm sorry. not the same at all. If you are drinking out of a water bottle with a straw and simply have to SUCK, it is completely doable with a blanket over your head. Eating a full on meal with utensils and such, is in no way the same as nursing a baby. sorry. i just don't buy it. Not that i think it should be required to have a blanket over my kids head while he nurses, but you get what I'm saying? the two just aren't comparable. so stop.

Using a cover is not always easy. For me, it was, but i also had very serious nursers, that were used to covers. If I didn't cover, it took 3 times as long to breast feed because they were distracted. I opted to cover mostly, for this reason. But when i didn't have a cover, and my kid needed to eat, i simply got him ready, and lifted my shirt up, exposing my feed bags ONLY to my son, not to anyone else. In fact, I'm pretty sure no one else knew i was nursing. I have ZERO problems with this. ZERO. please, feed your baby. when they're hungry. where you are. But can we please please please go back to when it wasn't a political statement to feed our kids? I was never kicked out of anywhere. No one ever said anything to me.

The vast majority of moms that breast feed in public without a cover do so modestly. But the few that DONT are the ones that are making this loud. The lady that nurses her kid with a skin tight dress on, and pulls her boob out of the top of the dress, then bends down to get her son out of the stroller, while her boob is just hanging out for everyone to see, while she checks in to watch her boyfriend graduate from boot camp…. Yea, thats not classy. Thats not about you wanting to feed your kid in public without anyone staring or saying anything. Thats you TRYING to get someone to say something. Unfortunately for you, my husband, who was checking you in, held his vomit until after you left….. But these few women, are the ones that make people frown on public breast feeding. If a man had his business hanging out in public like that it would be indecent exposure… but because we produce milk, we get a free pass? I don't think so.

Lets breast feed. Lets do it in public. Lets do it on demand. Lets do in uncovered. But for the sake of me having to scold my 9 year old, can we PLEASE use some modesty while we do this very natural and healthy thing?!?!?!

End rant.