Quote From: ckmitchellI have one child, a daughter,13 months, and I breastfed for 6 weeks by pumping becasue she would not latch correctly. I don't feel there is anything wrong with breastfeeding in public as long as you are covered. However, I completely agree with you on the age at which a child should NOT be breastfed. I feel that when a Dr. or nurse tells you to begin weening your child from the bottle, the breast should be included. Most physicians will tell you to be using a sippy cup,or trying to transition to a cup, at the age one one year. Why would you continue to breastfeed a child that can ask for juice or a hotdog. To me, that is totally unnecessary and strange. I find it disgusting to see a woman in public breastfeeding a child that can walk, talk, and eat food beyond a jar.
Dr. Phil should address this issue for a real debate!
Just an FYI... the reason the doctor or nurse is advising you to wean from a bottle is because, unlike a breast, a bottle has a high liklihood of causing your child's teeth to shift out of position as they grow in. The way a breast compresses prevents this problem, and sippy cups can actually make it *worse* if the child is a chomper, since the sippy cup has less give than a bottle nipple does.
That being said, my 16mo son is still breastfed and has always been nursed with my breast covered but no covering over his head anywhere we happen to be when he's thirsty/hungry/upset/tired... unless he's trying to force my shirt up to my collarbone - which he thinks is funny to do sometimes, though I try to prevent it - no one has seen any more of my breast besides him, my husband, and my doctor, than is routinely displayed in any modern western fashionable top since his head and body cover any exposed flesh that might be "indecent". Even as a newborn he wouldn't tollerate anything covering *his* head as he's a little heat generator and sweats too much.
And the only place I've ever been given any gruff about nursing him in front of other people was in my own father's living room when he was 2 weeks old. It was the last time my father or his family saw my son, since I will not allow anyone to undermine my parenting decisions, especially when I've put as much research into them as I have with breastfeeding. We live in Ohio where it has only been legally protected to breastfeed in public for less than a month (law went into effect September 12, 2005). I didn't start off being "millitant" about my son's right to eat when he's hungry, but my own family's rejection of this (and yes, I was being VERY discreet) pushed me to be the mom who will stand up for my child's right to EAT when he's hungry. He's unable to look away, not real able to understand my verbal communications with him yet, and only now starting to be able to delay gratification of his needs by so much as a minute or two (and I consider that quite an accomplishment for a toddler!). Other children his age are not offended by him nursing. Other children slightly older are not offended. The people who *are* offended are capable of cognitive reasoning at least to the extent that they *should* understand that a baby/small child's needs come before their own. At any age, one person's basic needs for food and comfort come before another's needs for relief of being squimish.
Speaking of disgusting ways to feed infants, a DQ commercial just aired as I was typing this depicting a father with a maniquin arm duct-taped to himself, a baby bottle duct-taped to the maniquin's hand, and him using THAT to feed his kid (who was strapped into a stroller at an angle there was no way the guy could see the kid's face around the table) while he ate a burger... THAT'S disgusting!
