breastfeeding in public

Its not about shame its about modesty. (among other things I dont feel like rewriting)

Its not about shame its about modesty. (among other things I dont feel like rewriting)

your own personal interpretation of modesty.

The fact that our country is so effed up that a mother feeding a baby is 'controversial' is quite concerning to me.

Breasts are considered by men AND women as sexual objects. Why else would so many women pay thousands of dollars to get them enhanced? Why all the fancy bras? Why the modesty and need to cover up?

That's what gets me the most. Boobs are displayed with fancy bras and low cut tops everyday, but when a mother shows the side of her boob to feed a kid? OMG all hell breaks loose.

Maybe if we stopped sending these mixed messages about sex and nudity, we wouldn't have to bother with these types of BS debates. The law in most states is very clear about BFing and state that a mother may breastfeed wherever her and her child are otherwise allowed to be, and without fear of indecency laws coming into play.

Additionally, the people that say the BS crap like 'just cover up with a blanket' or 'go to the bathroom' need a reality check. You try sitting with a blanket covering your head and see how long you last before it gets extremely stuffy and hot. Plus, babies don't like being covered and typically make MORE of a scene trying to squirm and rip the blanket away (and often expose more of the breast doing that). And as far as BFing in the bathroom---ummmmm SICK. Do you want to eat in a bathroom? No? Then STFU about how a baby should.

Honestly, if people don't like someone nursing in public, don't look. Turn away. Simple as that. The chances you have of running across someone doing this are quite slim anyway...I think I've seen it one or twice EVER.

Breasts are considered by men AND women as sexual objects. Why else would so many women pay thousands of dollars to get them enhanced? Why all the fancy bras? Why the modesty and need to cover up?

That's what gets me the most. Boobs are displayed with fancy bras and low cut tops everyday, but when a mother shows the side of her boob to feed a kid? OMG all hell breaks loose.

Precisely! It's oh-so-much healthier for our children to see half-dressed supermodels, pop stars and actresses than a regular woman nourishing her child. :grumble:

I understand exactly what your saying. And if that was the case I find that different. Discreetly breast feeding I dont have the issue with. Breast feeding is amazing for children. It helps them grow, makes them smarter(according to research), and etc etc etc. I get breast feeding I did Breast Feed myself however I dont think women HAVE to do so in public. If junior needs to eat and you know you'll be shopping why not do so before hand??

And if they were so modest and discreet I really dont think there would be anyone against it.

Have you, personally, ever seen a breastfeeding woman with her boobs in public just hanging out all over the place?

I'm 35 years old, have witnessed probably a hundred or more women breastfeeding in public and not once have I actually seen even a millimeter of breast on any one of them.

Yes, I have. More than once.

I'm sorry, but I have to call bull *kitten* on this. You are 10 years my junior, and I am a BF mom who has gone out in groups of other BF moms; I teach a BF class for WIC and have mom groups through WIC, and I have never even seen a mom just "flop it all out" there for all to see...

yeah. I just have to call bull *kitten*. sorry. Most moms are freaking terrified to even try to nurse in public because of moronic views like the ones you've read here... and you're saying that you just see people all over the place whipping them out there.... give me a break.

I'm a breastfeeding mom and I have personally flopped my tit out to feed my child in public. Not often, normally at the beach or something when I'm in a swimsuit. I wouldn't call bull**** it happens.

Call me old-fashioned...call me a prude...call me a lady, but I've always found that word to be in very poor taste... Kooky I guess-- why do I find it any more distasteful than boob? I don't know-- but I hate the word tit. Hate it.

Couldn't agree more with all the posters pointing out the hypocrisy-- "fashion" says it's okay to leave nothing to the imagination and show everything you've got-- but it's somehow controversial and immodest to feed a child. You can't go into a supermarket checkout line without seeing somebody's something on a magazine cover. But if I were to sit on a bench in the grocery store and feed my child, people may find it improper.

We are a sick society.

I nursed both my kids for a year. And was often told I should go into the bathroom when out in public to do it. Ummm do you like eating in the bathroom?? I never exposed myself tho I would just throw a receiving blanket over the baby and my shoulder but I nursed where ever it needed to be done. I got tired of the complaints quick. What I found most interesting is the most critical were the older generation of women, this is 15 years ago and these people were 50 and up, people my age at the time had little problem with it.

Precisely! It's oh-so-much healthier for our children to see half-dressed supermodels, pop stars and actresses than a regular woman nourishing her child. :grumble:
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I love this. At least the woman nursing isn't photo shopped and delivering a distorted body image. Its Natural.

I'm amazed that there are some women admitting that their own kids haven't seen a woman's boob before. What, not even your own? very odd.

No my son has not seen my boob before (I breast fed but no kid ever remembers that)!! That is sick

Why is it "sick?" My kids have seen my boobs on occasion. I'm not all like shaking them in their faces or anything, but they live here and I don't like to shut the bathroom door when I'm here alone with them because I need to be able to hear them. So they've seen stuff. Who cares? They're little.

IMO it is gross, but that is just me! My kids are also a bit older 7 and 9 and I doubt my 7 year old wants to see his moms boob or any other private part. In our family certain body parts are private and they are taught to keep them private!

Doesn't anyone remember that awkward time where they heard their parents in the bedroom?? I do and wish I'd never experienced it.

I just think 7 and 9 is too young to be exposed to that type of thing. I would hope that because of this my daughter will keep her body private and not dress provocatively when she is a teenager. Maybe that is why some girls grow up thinking it is okay to have cleavage showing, they are not taught to keep certain body parts private.

When I was 7, I went on a walk with a friend to complete an errand for her mother. On the way back, it poured rain and I was very cold and wet when I got home. My father was in the bathtub (we didn't have a shower), so my mother had me get out of my cold, wet clothes and stick my feet into the hot bathtub water with my father, who was naked.

I am not the least bit traumatized by it. It was no big deal. It was NOT sexual (not the same as seeing or hearing your parents having sex). I saw both my parents and even my aunts, uncles and grandparents many times in various states of undress over the years.

As a teenager, I wore baggy, oversized T-shirts and sweaters all the time because I didn't want to show off my body. Not because I saw naked relatives but because I wasn't comfortable with the attention I got if clothing was too tight or too short. Seeing a breast doesn't cause a girl to dress like a tramp.

And, by the way, as her MOTHER, you can say no.

And as her mother I will say NO, however I will hope that because of her being raised to keep her body private age will want to all on her own. When they are old enough in my eyes to discuss those things we will!

Being very young myself (18) and having very strict and overprotective parents I know first hand this tends to be counter productive, my parents never let me go to parties told me how to dress etc. and when I became an adult I had a strong urge to partake in some of the activities that were restricted from me... I am not saying do not discipline your kids but don't always assume the worst, your kids seeing your breast doesn't mean they will be provocative, going to a party doesn't mean they will drink or do drugs...

And not every kid ( I hope) who is "restricted" will rebel and go for the things they couldn't have--

I hope, I hope, I hope.

I hope so too, I never tried drugs or drank but I dressed a lot differently than when I lived at home and I went through a parting phase.

So, Ryan, I was just thinking -- You have a 9-year-old and you don't want her?? to see breasts?

I was a C-cup at 9 and had my first period at 11. She may not be developing, but some of her friends are. She's seen and known more than you can imagine, unless you don't allow her friends.

My daughter and I talk about what is going to happen to her body. She has seen me in a bra and knows that changes will be happening to her body. We are both female though. The comment was more geared to my son, his father will discuss with him what changes will happen. He does not need to see a female breast for educational purposes at 7 not mine or anyone's for that matter.

I guess my whole point is that I should decide when my daughter or son will be exposed to body parts, not the lady in the store who whips out out for the whole world to see!

Maybe you should bring a blind fold so they dont see the horrors that is someone eating

First of all, let me say that I know that because I am a male I have little or nothing to say about this that really matters

Today on our local talk radio station, there were a couple of right wingnuts ranting about "Lactivists" apparently around this same issue. If I had any negative opinion about public breast feeding before (which I didn't!) I lost all of it listening to these morons.

Basically its nobody's business and pretty much anywhere in the world but our wonderful USA that's the way it is regarded.

Having said that, I have to digress to a story. When I was about 22 years old, some older friends of mine were film makers (still are, but now they are in their late 70's). At the time, they made a lot of instructional films for social agencies and the like. I had been in a couple of their films, and one day they called me at work desperately looking for a "fill in" actor for a scene they were shooting right then for which the actor hadn't shown up. I agreed to immediately come to the site and be part of the scene.

When I got there, I discovered that I was to play the part of a blue collar new dad, sitting with his "wife" on a park bench in a public park while she breast fed the new baby. The actress playing the part was an absolute knock out (no pun intended) and I really stuggled to stay "in character" but I did manage

First of all, let me say that I know that because I am a male I have little or nothing to say about this that really matters

Today on our local talk radio station, there were a couple of right wingnuts ranting about "Lactivists" apparently around this same issue. If I had any negative opinion about public breast feeding before (which I didn't!) I lost all of it listening to these morons.

Basically its nobody's business and pretty much anywhere in the world but our wonderful USA that's the way it is regarded.

Having said that, I have to digress to a story. When I was about 22 years old, some older friends of mine were film makers (still are, but now they are in their late 70's). At the time, they made a lot of instructional films for social agencies and the like. I had been in a couple of their films, and one day they called me at work desperately looking for a "fill in" actor for a scene they were shooting right then for which the actor hadn't shown up. I agreed to immediately come to the site and be part of the scene.

When I got there, I discovered that I was to play the part of a blue collar new dad, sitting with his "wife" on a park bench in a public park while she breast fed the new baby. The actress playing the part was an absolute knock out (no pun intended) and I really stuggled to stay "in character" but I did manage

:laugh:

And the Oscar goes to....

I have 3 children and breast fed all of them. I'm all for nature and natural things, but I'm also about modesty. It really won't kill anyone to use a receiving blanket to cover yourself as much as you can. I really didn't like public feeding , but I did it. At a friend or family member's home, I asked to use a bedroom. I always felt that was my private time to bond with my baby. As much as I am modest, but not a prude, I really don't like to see it myself. I feel that modesty keeps everyone more comfortable, just like good manners. It seems in this day and age we don't think about anyone but ourselves and our own feelings. I won't say that you can't "be out-there" in public, but if I see you all plopped out there, I'll probably go quietly somewhere else.

I have 3 children and breast fed all of them. I'm all for nature and natural things, but I'm also about modesty. It really won't kill anyone to use a receiving blanket to cover yourself as much as you can. I really didn't like public feeding , but I did it. At a friend or family member's home, I asked to use a bedroom. I always felt that was my private time to bond with my baby. As much as I am modest, but not a prude, I really don't like to see it myself. I feel that modesty keeps everyone more comfortable, just like good manners. It seems in this day and age we don't think about anyone but ourselves and our own feelings. I won't say that you can't "be out-there" in public, but if I see you all plopped out there, I'll probably go quietly somewhere else.

I know it's been said before but using a blanket isn't always an option. My little girl would unlatch if there was a blanket over her head. In the summer would you like a blanket covering your head while you eat? I normally NORMALLY tried to be modest by wearing two shirts, pulling one down, pulling the other up. But in the summer? 90 degree heat? When I'm at the beach? Nah... whip the boob out and that's that. If someon has a problem I have a blanket for THEIR head.