Top 10 breast-feading contorversies

[tooblue]

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2053230_2053229,00.html

"It's no wonder Michelle Obama is telling everybody you better breast-feed your baby. Yeah, you better — because the price of milk is so high right now!"

[Surfah]

http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...053229,00.html

Last week there was a lady kicked out of the Smithsonian for nursing. She was in one of the museums on a bench facing the wall so passerbys wouldn't see. A security guard told her to go nurse in the bathroom. She informed the security guard there was nowhere to sit in the bathroom. The security guard told her to sit in a stall. When she refused she was told to stop or leave. She left. There was supposed to be a nurse-in last week there but I haven't heard what happened with that. The Smithsonian blamed the matter on ill-informed contractors and they have re-trained their contract security to allow nursing.

[Chachi]

I don't mind seeing other women breastfeeding when they are well covered. We have a young girl in our ward (she's 20-21 having her 3rd baby and the husband is 36 with 3 from a previous marriage) and she will just yank up her shirt in RS and plop the boob out. I understand that not everyone feels comfortable sitting next to this, so I respect the fact that they may not and use the Mother's Room. It's there for a reason. My kids are terrible public nursers b/c so much is going on around them they want to see and end up yanking the cover up off and exposing me to everyone. I just brought bottles, it was way easier.

[Clark Addison]

[marsupial]

Thank you!

Breast is best. That much is indisputable.

I don't see the big deal about breast pumps being a tax deductible expense. I mean, isn't daycare tax deductible too? A pump, like childcare, is a necessary expense if a nursing mother returns to work.

[wuapinmon]

I felt uncomfortable on my first Sunday in Costa Rica when a not-unattractive young mother whipped one out right next to me and started feeding her baby. The next Sunday, someone else did it. Then I saw them all over the place, in houses, on the street, on the bus.

Now, I don't care. We're all together way too prudish about breastfeeding in this country. What's sad is that I can walk around outside without my shirt on, legally, and I probably have bigger boobs than most women.

[Clark Addison]

Thank you!

Breast is best. That much is indisputable.

I don't see the big deal about breast pumps being a tax deductible expense. I mean, isn't daycare tax deductible too? A pump, like childcare, is a necessary expense if a nursing mother returns to work.

This reminds me of an experience from a couple of weeks ago. We just moved into a newly constructed building at work. I had a guy who works for me down from his home in Delaware, and was showing him around. This guy is married, in his mid-thirties, but has no children. One of the features of our new building is that each floor has a "Wellness Room". I showed him this room, which has a couch, sink, and small fridge. He asked why sick people wouldn't just go home, and I said, "Well, I think it is mostly for nursing mothers". He looked at me in confusion, and said "They bring their babies in here?!" I said that no, they didn't do that, and waited for him to figure it out. He didn't figure it out. I finally told him "They can use a pump to express the milk".

Understanding dawned on his face, as well as a little unease that someone would actually do this in the workplace. This unease grew as he suddenly had an epiphany and asked, with obvious discomfort, "Wait a minute, then they put the milk in this fridge?!" He had obviously made a vow at that time to never put anything that he would be consuming in that refrigerator.

In the interest of boosting my own breast-feeding cred, I will also say that a couple of years ago, one of my employees came back from maternity leave, and we did not have a mother's room. I cleaned out an unused office, supplied it with a couch, fridge, and television. We had mothers from floors all over the building coming to use our room.

[TripletDaddy]

What is the complaint about a woman taking out her boobs?

[Borg]

Oh.... I thought this thread was going to be an expose' on something related with a Goatnapper story.

[marsupial]

Thank you!

Breast is best. That much is indisputable.

I don't see the big deal about breast pumps being a tax deductible expense. I mean, isn't daycare tax deductible too? A pump, like childcare, is a necessary expense if a nursing mother returns to work.

Also, I find it ironic that this Tea Party woman, someone who has been saying we are getting taxed too much, is pitching a fit because the IRS is giving nursing moms a little tax relief. That seems pretty inconsistent to me.

Y'all know my opinion on public breastfeeding. In order for a mom to be successful breastfeeding she either needs to be comfortable breastfeeding in public or comfortable never leaving her house. It's very difficult to nurse exclusively for the first 6 months (as recommended by medical professionals) and never nurse in front of someone else, especially if the mom has older children to care for.

[Borg]

Also, I find it ironic that this Tea Party woman, someone who has been saying we are getting taxed too much, is pitching a fit because the IRS is giving nursing moms a little tax relief. That seems pretty inconsistent to me.

Y'all know my opinion on public breastfeeding. In order for a mom to be successful breastfeeding she either needs to be comfortable breastfeeding in public or comfortable never leaving her house. It's very difficult to nurse exclusively for the first 6 months (as recommended by medical professionals) and never nurse in front of someone else, especially if the mom has older children to care for.

Sup-
Question. A lot of the comments on here, are in regards to "how it makes other people feel" etc...

But, what I would like to know, is "how does the nursing mother feel" about whipping out her breast in public, covered...non-covered? Is it a feeling of "this is my right as a mother and the world be damned"? ...or, is there a non-feeling about having your breast exposed in public because it's a natural thing....what?

Wonder how the mother feels in this swirl of a controversial subject...that probably shouldn't be controversial.

[RC Vikings]

What's sad is that I can walk around outside without my shirt on, legally, and I probably have bigger boobs than most women.

San Diego and Barstow are both cities in California but they aren't the same.

[marsupial]

Sup-
Question. A lot of the comments on here, are in regards to "how it makes other people feel" etc...

But, what I would like to know, is "how does the nursing mother feel" about whipping out her breast in public, covered...non-covered? Is it a feeling of "this is my right as a mother and the world be damned"? ...or, is there a non-feeling about having your breast exposed in public because it's a natural thing....what?

Wonder how the mother feels in this swirl of a controversial subject...that probably shouldn't be controversial.

Well, I can't speak for every mother. Some feel uncomfortable breastfeeding in public. Some don't care. I was uncomfortable at first and became increasingly comfortable doing it in public. I didn't use a hooter-hider or a blanket or anything, but I never "whipped it out." I was pretty good at getting my babies to latch without making a big scene.

Honestly, I don't know that I have ever encountered a woman who truly whipped it out and was showing the world her breast. Not that I would have any problem with that. Take your whole damn shirt off, if that's what you need to do to feed your baby. Fine with me.

I think most people are uncomfortable with the idea of breastfeeding, even if they can't actually see the mother's breast. We see breasts everywhere in very sexualized ways... Skimpy tops, bikinis, overflowing cleavage--it's all over the cover of the magazines at the grocery store, on TV, women at the mall, etc. And what do people suddenly get offended by? A mother trying to feed her baby when she is out in public.

[Jeff Lebowski]

What's sad is that I can walk around outside without my shirt on, legally, and I probably have bigger boobs than most women.

That is sad. Tragic, even.

[YOhio]

I can walk around outside without my shirt on, legally, and I probably have bigger boobs than most women.

Humblebrag!