Even mothers who are committed to nursing say they are shaken when confronted with the hostility or consternation of strangers observing them. "People make you feel like you're doing something dirty, almost," said Rene Harrell, 26, of Chantilly, Va., who said she was recently asked to leave a Delta airport lounge in Atlanta as she nursed her 8-month-old son, Elijah. Once on the plane awaiting takeoff, she said, a man across the aisle complained loudly about her into his cellphone as she continued to nurse. The scene, said Ms. Harrell, reminded her of the one Ms. Walters described, which she read about on an Internet discussion board. "It's just, where would you like me to go so I don't bother you by being here?" Ms. Harrell said. "He was not on solids. It's not like I could have given him something to tide him over. He needed to eat."
I SAY, free all lactating tits, so babies can suck openly in the streets. Maybe it will ease our obsession with this most natural of objects. And hey, a tit naturally enlarged by mother's milk is a mighty fine sight, anyway.
In related news, controversial academic Yale Professor Craphogger has proposed a demonstration to restore "the inherent dignity of a man relieving himself." In a massive pee-in, 500 of his male students are going to line up on the east side of New York's Central Park and piss on 5th Avenue.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - bhw
Please don't compare nursing an infant with pissing, even jokingly. They're not related in the least.
Anyone who thinks women should nurse babies in a public restroom should first go eat their meal in one and see how enjoyable the experience is.
And Baba Wawa should do what everyone else near a nursing mother should do: shut the fuck up and look the other way.
2 - bhw
Adam, do you have a link to the article you quoted? And where does the quote begin and end -- I think I know but I'm not positive. You need to use the 'blockquote' tag.
3 - adam
Link from NY Times.
I don't know how to do the block quote thingy. It sure looks nice.
4 - bhw
It's easy. Log back in to MT to see how it looks. I'll put the link in for you.
5 - Angela Chen Shui
Lactivists unite! Seems so silly that this is even necessary. Were Barbara and all these others ALL bottle-fed? They're just jealous, right? ;-)
'Uncomfortable' with a woman loving her baby enough to breastfeed? Pleaseeeeeeee...
6 - swingingpuss
A woman is another's worst enemy.
bhw, Baba Wawa sure sounds funny ;)
7 - bhw
It was even funnier when Gilda said it. 8-)
8 - swingingpuss
I think breastfeeding is the most convenient thing nature gifted us with.
Thankfully even the poor can afford it orelse infants born in families living under the poverty line might perish.
9 - adam
bhw,
Thanks.
Tried the blockquote tag on my own blog, but it told me that the tag wasn't closed, whatever the heck that means.
10 - bhw
Ahhhhh ... at the end of the quoted text, you do have to "close" the 'blockquote' tag. You put the word 'blockquote' in brackets, just like when you start the tag, but you also put a / in front of the word blockquote, inside the tags. If you log back in and scroll to the end of the long quote, you'll see the closing tag.
11 - Cerulean
This kind of language is no ok
12 - bhw
Oh, sure it is. We're all "growmups," as my son would say.
13 - Cerulean
And yes, it is fear. Just one guess, Mommy problems?
And you're claiming to be heterosexual?
14 - swingingpuss
Cerulean, do you mean html or bared tits?
15 - mpho
Lactivists - I love it. Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to pass this on to my La Leche League friends. And no, I'm not lactating, but I have a few "mommy" friends who are, maybe even as I post this comment!
16 - TerriO
I nursed my son for a year, as most pediatricians recommend. I was always very comfortable nursing in public and never encountered any problems. I think my husband had more of a problem with it then I did! I would get ready to "whip it out", so to speak, and he would ask incredulously if I was really going to do that in public. It took him almost 3-4 months to finally get used to it!
17 - Nancy
I have to admit it makes me very uncomfortable when someone pulls out a boob and flashes it around. I have no problem with those who are somewhat subtle about it, draping a scarf or little baby blanket over their shoulders, but I've encountered a few who just haul everything out and let it hang there while they arrange their purse, the kid, etc. and I gotta say it sure does kill the appetite. I do NOT look on and think 'Ooooo...how natural!' or admire their dedication to feeding their children naturally.
While I'm at it, I object very strongly to women who think it's hunky-dory to change the baby's didies on a restaurant table, park bench, or such places. Maybe you think your kid's shit is ice cream, but feces and urine-soaked diapers making contact with surfaces where others have to eat or sit or have contact is not only unbelievably selfish and stupid, it's illegal. Unfortunately, most of this type of self-absorbed, antisocial behavior (not to mention unhygenic and just plain rude) seems to be associated so far in my experience with women who like to flaunt their lactating. I hope it isn't also a plank of the Lactivist platform that these women feel it's also natural to fling their babies' crap around and the rest of us had "better get used to it"?
18 - bhw
Nancy, as someone who breast fed her two children, I'm kind of tuned in to women who are nursing in public. I have honestly NEVER seen the behavior you describe, where someone flashes a breast.
I never needed to use a blanket or towel to cover the baby's head because today's nursing tops and bras are so well designed. It's very easy to be discreet -- anyone who isn't, isn't trying. But these same people aren't inconsiderate because they're lactating: they're the kind of people who are inconsiderate no matter what they're doing or where they are.
Same goes for the people who change diapers on tables. It's unsanitary, and it's not fair to the people around you. But sometimes babies have to be changed, and a park bench is all you have. Again, a considerate parent uses a changing pad, which are standard issue in diaper bags, and is as discreet, sanitary, and fast as possible.
But again, the people who aren't didn't become inconsiderate when they had children. They were already inconsiderate. They just added new behaviors to their repertoire.
19 - Nancy
Come to think of it, I don't like seeing gays OR straights hanging all over each other in public. If people must grope, paw, and tonsil-touch the object of their affection, they should go home and do it in private.
20 - bhw
Or you could avert your eyes and go about your business. Sorry that the rest of the world doesn't conform its behavior to suit your personal tastes.
21 - JR
Let's get our priorities straight.
Screaming babies: offensively annoying
Breast-feeding babies: not so much
If a public breast feeding is going to shut the kid up, it should be MANDATORY.
22 - bhw
Stopping the screaming was always my first priority when my kids were babies. Nothing works better than a boob.
23 - Phillip Winn
A little bit of respect for other people goes a long way. Some effort to be discreet about nursing seems like a good thing (and by that I don't mean that nursing women should hide in bathrooms), and just ignoring the sight of nursing if it bothers you would go a long way, too.
The people that weird me out are the ones who, um, like the sight of nursing. Not in a "Oh, good, a baby being cared for" way, but in a "I wanna sneak a peek" way. That's just strange.
24 - JR
Well, "sneaking a peek" is pretty low-class, but I have to say I like to see that there's a bit of humanity left in a mechanized, button-down, time-clock punching world.
25 - miriam
In order to nurse a baby, the mother must have adequate nutrition.
Until the 18th century, most children who died in infancy died of starvation. Mal-nourished women cannot provide nutrition to an infant.
Rich people hired wet nurses. Poor women couldn't.