Mrs Happy works in OB as a nurse. She asked me yesterday what my thoughts were about women breast feeding out in public. She brought up some sort of situation a while back where a breast feeding woman in a restaurant was asked to go to the bathroom to breast feed her baby. That it was upsetting some other customers. Mrs Happy felt that was not cool. That breast feeding is a natural process and a woman should be allowed to do so in the restaurant, not the bathroom. She asked me what I thought.
Being the devil's advocate I explained how farting is a natural process and a man should be allowed to boldly fart in a restaurant without recourse, even if it upset other patrons. It's just a little gas I said.
Well, Mrs Happy thought I was being ridiculous. And that was the end of that.
What say you America?
Breast feast or pass gas?
I agree. If a woman can cover herself up well enough then I have no problem - but some are blatantly exposing most if not all of their breast while feeding. That's going too far. From the sound of it I'd wager that the woman was being too showy for the customer's tolerance.
ReplyDeleteYou can fart and be discreet about it. Why not breast feed and be discreet as well.
As the mother of a 3 week old, I'm all in favor of nursing in public.
ReplyDeleteI'm also in favor of modesty while nursing. If I'm nursing in public, I use a blanket and no one sees anything.
I, do, however, want to get a "hooter hider" which will be easier. A true product: http://shop.bebeaulait.com/shop/hhnc
And FYI, if your post gets linked to a place where breastfeeders hang out, you'll get tons of comments. Totally not cool to compare breastfeeding to farting.
Totally support discreet breast feeding wherever necessary. And you have an interesting comparison; although I think you were being facetious, farting is not just the realm of vulgar men. As a senior woman, I find it difficult to control nature's demands while out in public and especially when shopping. But tell me--after creating this cloud of odor, why does it follow me around the store rather than staying where expelled??!!
ReplyDeleteYoung male med student here with no kids: Breast feeding is great for the children and is the first step in many to good parenting. I have no qualms with a fully exposed breast. If you don't like it, don't look! Besides, when I'm in a restaurant I'm focused on my plate not the other patrons. Oh, and that extra IQ boost in the child could mean the difference between job/no job years later and that affects my tax dollars and our country. It's patriotic to breast feed. (My apologies for those who legitimately can't)
ReplyDeleteEvil HR lady said it for me...just not right to compare the two.
ReplyDelete100 years ago in my past life, I nursed and if boy child hungered while in public, he nursed while in public.
I didn't wave my breast around nor did I chase strangers around in public shooting my warm booby milk at them, but neither did I suffocate my child to keep some adult from being offended.
One is a pleasant sight, and the other is a wicked odor. Hmmmmm...
ReplyDeleteI go with discretion on all fronts. You're a wimp if you've NEVER farted in a restaurant. You just have to be judicious in the decision about which ones should be allowed to escape. And not on hard plastic benches.
But tell me--after creating this cloud of odor, why does it follow me around the store rather than staying where expelled??!!
ReplyDeletehyperopia - your not checking your Depends close enought for "powder burns" when you get home.
I prefer gals to be covered up. It's a private thing.
ReplyDeleteI also dislike those who carry on about their God-given right to breast feed in public. Breast feeding is a positive thing, but it's not holy.
I think your comparison to farting is a good one.
As someone who gave birth twice and never produced even one drop of milk, I don't know much about the whole process, but is there not a way to pump the milk and then feed it to the baby with a bottle while in public? Just keep the bonding experience for home and spare us the view while we are trying to enjoy our meal.
ReplyDeleteI'm just wondering who these women are that provide a "view." I'm a nursing mother. My friends are all either currently nursing or have nursed in the past. We nurse in each others' presence and yet I've never been "flashed" by any of them.
ReplyDeleteI've seen other women nursing in public as well, and yet I never see anything offensive--and I'm offended by the clothes teenagers wear.
Are there really that many nursing mothers who aren't covering up?
I think discretion is the rule of the day. I don't mind women breast-feeding in public, but it _is_ possible to manage with some discretion. I'm not very keen on the "let it all hang out" attitude some new mothers take. It's perfectly possible to breastfeed without flashing half the room. I've known it to be done at an Easter dinner gathering of 15 people, and no one but the baby got a glimpse of the mom's breasts.
ReplyDeleteRestaurants that send me or my spouse away because I'm breastfeeding (and I'm not, yet) needn't worry about ever seeing us again.
As for the comparison to farting...not so reasonable, on a number of levels.
1) There's no harm in excusing yourself from the table momentarily to visit the restroom to pass gas. Excusing yourself for 10+ minutes to FEED a child in the toilet is a bit gross.
2) Those who don't want to observe the breastfeeding needn't look. Those who don't want to smell your gas would have to refrain from breathing.
I agree with the general theme of the comments - discrete public breast feeding should be fine. No need to send a woman to the restroom unless she's exposing herself in a way that's inappropriate. And yes, I agree with "evil hr lady" about the fact that teenagers wear some pretty crazy clothes these days - maybe we should banish all of them to the restroom?
ReplyDelete