Topic : 10/07 The Latest Debates

What if you have more then one child? What if your other child is playing at the park? Is a breast feeding mother expected to run home to feed her baby or can she sit quietly and feed her child? Why are restaurants off limits? If a family is eating a mother must hide in the bathroom and let her food go cold? Breast feeding can take up to a half hour. Her family could well be done with their meal before she is finished. That is not even mentioning the fact that their isn't always a second person to watch any other children. Perhaps compromise should be discretion not exile. 

I watched the show today and had to put my 2 cents worth in.  I successfully breastfed my now 3 year old for a full year, and am now nursing my almost year old son.  I think it's perfectly normal and natural for a woman to nurse her baby in public.  I do think it's appropriate to try to be discreet in a crowded environment, such as a restaurant or store.  I think it helps the baby also, because it can be distracting with all the noise and activity.  Unless a 'mother's room' is provided, a breastfeeding woman's only choice is to feed her baby in public.  A bathroom stall is NOT a sanitary, safe, relaxing environment in which to feed a child!!!  What I believe needs to happen is that restaurants, stores, malls, etc. need to provide an appropriate 'room' designed for breastfeeding women.  Not all women who nurse WANT to have people staring, pointing, or discussing what we're doing.  I, personally, do not care to expose my breast for all to see.  However, I will nurse my child when and where I want to.  Nevada is one of the states in which it is legal to nurse in public.  I choose, however, to cover up for my sake as well as my baby's.  Thank you Dr. Phil for bringing this sensitive and important topic to the forefront. 

Kristin

I took issue with the comment that breastfeeding in public is not 'attractive.'  We aren't trying to be attractive for crying out loud, we're responding to the needs of our children! 

As a new mom of a now 6 month old child, I can tell you that although I am always discreet about it, for my own piece of mind, not anyone else's, I nurse my child whenever and wherever she's hungry. On the few occasions that it's happened in a public place, I have had no compunction about nursing in that place. 

  I am the mother to 11 children, and I do not feel that it is a strangers right to correct my children. Let someone attempt to and see what happens. My children are not unruly or disrespectful. I could take them anywhere anytime. But I have also had people approach me and tell me I do not love my kids enough because I was scolding them ( my five year old was touching a TV on a wobbly shelf and I just told her if she touched anything else in the store I would take her home).  What business is it of hers anyways? There is a line that no one should cross and someone who does not know my child on a personal level has no right to say a single thing to them. If you have a beef about my child bring it to me not my child.  

  I do not even let my own mother discipline my children she is not around enough to do so. There are very few people outside my spouse and I that have this right and I have made it known that this is the way it is. And if it were someone that had no children at all it would not matter how long they had known me they really have no first hand dealings with children so the would just need to back off.  

I breastfed all three of my children. There is no substitute for breastmilk. It's a live fluid, like blood. It's not some dead, processed food product that cannot possibly contain all of the myriad, beneficial components of live, mother's milk. 

There is no reason to hide a nursing baby! I've seen more exposed skin walking down the street, in the workplace, in the market, just about everywhere! 

When a mother nursed a baby, all that shows is the baby's head (and every mother will attest to the fact that most baby's heads are rather large), and the outer perimeter of the breast. That's offensive? 

I find bottle feeding offensive. I wouldn't dream of asking a mother to bottle feed her baby elsewhere. 

Give me a break! 

I've noticed that some people (mainly women) seem to have some sort of emotional reaction to a nursing baby. I'd recommend therapy. 

There are many other important issues to concern oneself with. Breastfeeding is the single best thing a mother can do for her baby to give him or her the strongest start in life. How can anyone not support a breastfeeding mom? 

I'm 15 and have never had the experience of breast feeding but I have seen it done in public and don't see it as a sexual thing when a baby is involved. I understand some mothers prefer to breast feed than to use formula because formula isn't always as good as the breast milk which is all natural. People who view this natural thing as a SEXUAL thing need to get their minds out of the gutter. I just can't believe people have the nerve to tell a mother she needs to go into the bathroom to feed her child. Would they like to eat their meal in a dirty bathroom stall? I think not. To the woman who was against breast feeding in public on the show today, Maybe you should look in the mirror and take a good look at yourself.....maybe something YOU do is offensive! ....and unnatural (hair)! 

Breastfeeding in public should not even be a topic its the most natural (and the healthiest) way to feed a child. Even before I had kids I was offened by moms bottle feeding their babies with formula thats just lazy. If the mom could not breast feed for having a disease or would not produce milk or had adopted those are the ONLY situations where a mom should formula feed. No other species on Earth formula feeds thier children.  

The American Academy of Pediatrics recomendations disagree with you.  Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months, then slow introduction of solid food with continued breastfeeding making up the bulk of the babies caloric intake up to a year. 

Besides many many many many women are able to successfully breastfeed their babies, but CANNOT pump.    

We are not teaching our children instant gratification.  We are teaching them that their mother cares about thier needs and hunger is one of those needs.    

As for caring about others feelings who have lost children or who can't have them, that is a moot point because just the mear sight of a baby breastfeeding or not would cause them saddness.