Topic : 10/07 The Latest Debates

 I breastfed all 3 of my sons (the first for 15 months, the second for 3 years and the third is still bresastfeeding at 3 years old).
The bottom line to breastfeeding in public is that even if moms do cover up (which my boys never let me do--they would rip it right off from  the time they were 4 months on...who wants to eat their food under a hot blanket???) is that the people who have "issues" with it, have inherent issues with the human body. They would still be offended even if the moms were "covered up" because it is the act itself that disgusts them...not what they SEE!
The  woman who against breastfeeding kept talking about how it's not "attractive". Well, I personally found her hair color/style to be VERY unattractive also so I guess according to her, she should go intyo hiding as so not to offend me.
Our culture needs to grow up and stop thinking that we have all the answers for every moral issue. Obviously, with the state our kids are in these days, we could be doing a lot better!!!

It is true, the perfect means of protection is abstinence, but unfortunately sex is performed despite the consequences, such as HIV, AIDS, and pregnancy. Considering sex is costless and a solution to intimate desires, sex will proceed to remain as an interest and an activity in adolescents. Inaptly, the number of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases are increasing, regardless of previous tactics. The supplying of condoms in school is a means of safety, equitable to sex education.

Sex education is to inform the adolescents of the process of a new human being coming into existence and in addition often includes topics such as STD and how to avoid them, as well as methods of contraception. The purpose of sex education is to give information and likewise educate how to be safe if they inaptly decide to have adolescent sex. Similarly the aim of rendering condoms is to encourage safe sex if any sex. 

 

I WATCHED YOUR SHOW TODAY AND I THINK BREAST FEEDING IS TOTALLY A NORMAL THING. I UNDERSTAND THAT SOME PEOPLE DON'T LIKE LOOKING AT WOMEN WHILE THEY'RE DOING IT BUT IT IS TOTALLY NATURAL. THE WOMAN ON YOUR PROGRAM SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO IT AND COVERING HERSELF WITH A BLANKET I THINK WOULD BE A BETTER APPROACH. THERE ARE JUST SOME PEOPLE WHO DON'T LIKE TO LOOK AT WOMEN BREASTFEEDING AND A LITTLE COMPROMISE COULD SETTLE THAT ISSUE AND MAKE OTHERS AROUND NOT FEEL SO UNCOMFORTABLE. THANKS FOR YOUR GREAT SHOWS DR. PHIL--THERE IS ALWAYS INTERSETING AND INFORMING TO SEE.                              AMY

On another subject of breastfeeding. I think that women who breastfeed their child over the age of 2 have definite issues. I once saw a woman breastfeeding her child who was about 5. That is a major problem. I don't think it has anything to do with the child, but the parent who refused to let that child become independent.

I am a breastfeeding mother and i totally agree with you!!!  Although I  don't plan on feeding my baby in public, it does happen from time to time...hey, if she's hungry I am her bottle!!!  But I do think that a little blanket goes a long way when trying to feed your children in a public setting!!

I totally agree with you on that subject.

 Dr. Phil, my beef is you missed a prime opportunity, or maybe you did it later after taping, to get into the real matter with the anti-breast woman.  It wasnt breastfeeding she had a problem with.  That was the least of it.  She obviously was hostile towards any form of self expression.  I didn't get all the program, I was busy and going in and out trying to catch it...but I am going to guess she doesnt have any children and has issues with the human body no matter what it is doing! FEED A BABY IN THE BATHROOM!!! You should have called her on that.  I realize she seemed just ready to unhinge but crap, its YOUR show.  You should have told her to get over it.  And that you DO NOT EAT IN THE JOHN!!!

I breastfed my children and I have six.  Most of them were fairly easy to convince when and where.  But Hannah, my now 17 year old...anywhere, everywhere and all the time!  There isnt a store, eating establishment (both fast food and fancy) within 100 miles of here that hasnt been breastfed in!  BY HER!  And let me just go ahead and flip you off your chair backwards...she didnt wean until she was almost 4!!!  Sometimes we were discrete and sometimes I did all I could to keep her from wanting to nurse one and "hold other one Mommy."  Not when she was 4 of course---but as a toddler. 

I have a brother in law that had issues with it...but I couldnt care less.  I didnt do it at his house in front of him but he had issues with me doing it at all!  Honestly though, he just pretty much as issues period.

Yes breasts are sexual.  They are supposed to be.  But they are also for nourishing  babies.  Men, women, whom ever is offended by it is not JUST offended by breastfeeding but have some issue with breast/nakedness and differentiating between the sexual aspect and the nurturing aspect...I suspect it is a deep seeded problem.  But hey you are the doctor.

But for goodness sakes...LOOK AWAY and quit whining.  Turn your chair.  Be a big girl.  That breastfeeding mom paid for her dinner too! 

I'm laughing because the issue is not whether or not to breast feed -- it is whether we should do it rudely and disrespectfully or whether we should do it with kindness and respect of a multi-cultural America. One guest on the show said she had the right to be as rude and disrespectful as she wanted to be, and the other guest said that she thought people should be kind and respectful when in public. Easy to see the morally right answer - all relgions require us to be kind, and so does humanism. 

  

If you do a survey of what women find sexually attractive in men, many, if not most women, will say they consider a man's bare chest erotic, but there's no campaign to prevent men from going topless. Why should I have to cover up my chest in public then? It's called gender bias.  

  

Children who are breast feed after age 1 year are meeting their mother's emotional and psychological needs, not the mother meeting the child's needs, as any immunologist and scientifically based nutritionist will tell you.