Monday, December 12, 2011

Mama's thoughts on nursing in public


I breastfeed my babies.  Or, at least, I have done that - currently only one of them is nursing.  When my baby is hungry, I feed him - no apologies.  Bottle fed babies eat whenever/wherever they want and no one puts up a stink about it, no one offers covers for bottle fed babies.  No one seems to be offended.


This is not a picture of me (you probably guessed that).
When I feed my babies, I use a blanket to cover myself.  I have friends that don't cover at all and I am seriously in awe at times of how discreet they can be - you would never know their babies were eating.  I don't know how they do it.  So why am I writing this post?  It has everything to do with the t-shirt below.


I fully agree, it's silly to insist that women cover their babies while they breastfeed.  But, I cover my babies.  Why do I do it?  I used to work in a children's home.  Specifically, I worked with boys who had been sexually abused.  Most of the boys had also abused others.  It's tragic.  

Some of these boys have been so trained by their abusers that they, at a very early age, have become sexual predators.  I know what goes through the minds of even these very young boys when they see a woman nursing a child - and I don't want to risk aiding any of them in the unhealthy thought patterns that they have already developed.  Maybe that doesn't make sense to everyone.

When I cover my baby to nurse him, I am not doing it for me or my baby - I am doing it for the protection of young men (and old men) nearby that may have little control over their thoughts regarding women.  I don't want to be aid another person is his (or her) cycle of abuse.  So I cover.

Again, I am envious of my friends who are able to be so incredibly discreet when feeding their little ones.  I don't know how they do it, but I know that there are times that even other moms don't realize that the baby is eating!

What do you think about public breastfeeding?  Should babies have to be covered?  Does it present a problem for anyone you know?  How do you deal with it?

4 comments:

  1. I don't cover... I just wear 2 shirts.. so only the part the baby latches onto is exposed.. and as long as baby is attached.. you can't see anything.. it's when he pulls off to look around that you start putting on a show..

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  2. I don't cover at home unless we have company, but always in public - mostly it's about the kids I used to work with - but also I'm pretty modest about that sort of thing. I am still just absolutely amazed at the ladies who are able to nurse without covers! how does it work with 2 shirts?

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  3. I had to cover in public. My little guy would latch on and off all of the time. He'd eat a little, then look around to make sure he wasn't missing anything. At least when I had a blanket I had something I could cover myself with quickly!

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  4. I use to use a cover, but my son kept moving it since he likes to look around. So now I use a large blanket and kind of wrap it around myself and don't cover him at all. No one notices when I nurse, they think he is just sleeping. Until he pulls off, then I use the blanket to cover myself off.

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