Replies to '10/07 The Latest Debates'

When I was breast feeding my children, I didn't want to be left out of all the fun activities.  I didn't want to be reclusive at home while my friends and family were out and about having a good time.  For those of you who are opposed to breast feeding in public, try to think of it from the mother's point of view.  Imagine that she is out to dinner with her husband, celebrating an anniversary. Just as the expensive entree is set before her, steaming hot and fragrant, the baby begins to fuss.  Why should the mother have to disappear to the bathroom to breast feed the baby while her food gets cold?  Imagine that she's having a picnic with her family at the park.  When the hungry baby fusses, she goes to find a restroom to hide the shameful fact that she is nourishing a tiny member of our society. There is no bench for her to sit on, so she sits on the toilet for 20 minutes, feeding her baby, while other women are rapping on the door, needing to use the facilities.  Meanwhile, the mother's other young children are playing in the bathroom -- scarcely a sanitary place to hang out --but mother is nervous about having them out of her sight and worries about perverts who might spirit them away when she isn't looking.  Not all mothers have husbands available at all times to help supervise toddlers and older children while mom is off breast feeding the baby.  

Why should mom have to be banished from sight when she is feeding her baby?   She is missing out on a sunny day out to the park, or to a restaurant, or to a play, and doesn't want to miss the best part by hiding out as though she has something to be ashamed of. 

If women hadn't breast fed babies since the cave man days, we wouldn't have survived as a species.   It was a matter of life and death that babies receive nourishment.  When did that natural act become a shameful thing to do?   

I'm in favor of people becoming DE-sensitized to breast-feeding mothers.  Get used to it! 

When I was breast feeding my children, I didn't want to be left out of all the fun activities.  I didn't want to be reclusive at home while my friends and family were out and about having a good time.  For those of you who are opposed to breast feeding in public, try to think of it from the mother's point of view.  Imagine that she is out to dinner with her husband, celebrating an anniversary. Just as the expensive entree is set before her, steaming hot and fragrant, the baby begins to fuss.  Why should the mother have to disappear to the bathroom to breast feed the baby while her food gets cold?  Imagine that she's having a picnic with her family at the park.  When the hungry baby fusses, she goes to find a restroom to hide the shameful fact that she is nourishing a tiny member of our society. There is no bench for her to sit on, so she sits on the toilet for 20 minutes, feeding her baby, while other women are rapping on the door, needing to use the facilities.  Meanwhile, the mother's other young children are playing in the bathroom -- scarcely a sanitary place to hang out --but mother is nervous about having them out of her sight and worries about perverts who might spirit them away when she isn't looking.  Not all mothers have husbands available at all times to help supervise toddlers and older children while mom is off breast feeding the baby.  

Why should mom have to be banished from sight when she is feeding her baby?   She is missing out on a sunny day out to the park, or to a restaurant, or to a play, and doesn't want to miss the best part by hiding out as though she has something to be ashamed of. 

If women hadn't breast fed babies since the cave man days, we wouldn't have survived as a species.   It was a matter of life and death that babies receive nourishment.  When did that natural act become a shameful thing to do?   

I'm in favor of people becoming DE-sensitized to breast-feeding mothers.  Get used to it!