Some women I know staged a breastfeeding sit in last week to protest on of their friends treatment in a cafe.... the woman was approached and told not to feed there and that breastfeeding was unhygienic.... seriously? what country are we living in?
When I had K, I struggled a lot with breastfeeding her, and would use a shawl over us when she was tiny to breastfeed in public, as I got more confident I would just feed her whenever and wherever she needed it.... now I am happy and comfortable that I just feed when N needs it too....
I had a woman pull my top down over the side of my breast earlier this year, I found it strange and offensive that she thought she had the right to do that too me, esp as we were waiting in the women's health clinic at the Hospital... I didn't say anything and now wish I had.
Why does a woman breastfeeding in public cause such alarm among some people... to me its perfectly natural and normal to do this, I would never comment to a woman bottle feeding her baby that its unhygienic or disgusting yet people do this to breastfeeding mothers a lot.
I get the whole breasts are sexual thing, but seriously breasts are there to feed babies too... multi functional things breasts are..... but if you are classifying breasts as sexual and that they should not be seen in public like that, then had we better start covering our mouths and hands too. They can be used for sexual purposes too.
And as for the woman's comments that its not good for kids to see breasts... well I don't get that either.... my children are comfortable with me breastfeeding, and what parent has never had their child walk in to the bathroom when showering, little kids don't care about breasts... they are just breasts to them, nothing sexual in it.
Anyway, rant over, and big ups to the women who took a stand on this.
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7 comments:
Great post, D. Isn't it frustrating that we have to keep on saying this over and over and over again.
Someone pulled your top down over your breast while you were feeding??!!! Are you for real?? I'm speechless, I really am. Who has the right to come up and do that to you when you're feeding your child?
Good on you for staging the sit-in (I heard about it over in Aus, too) and for doing this post.
thanks Deborah, its not often I get ranty lately but this just made me mad, Renee yes she did pull my top down so less of me was exposed... I would have loved to have gone to the sit in, but it was in auckland and I am in Palmerston North....
I just dont get what the bloody issue is, breast is best if you can do it or is it just another way to control our bodies?
I am bresatfeeding my 14 months baby infront of my kids and friends and it is the most natural thing for them. I think that a kid who used to see his mother breastfeeding in public will treat breast as natural thing and not sexsual.
I think its really natural too, I really dont think breasts are sexualised by kids till they hit puberty. and even then if they have seen women breastfeeding they know that its normal
A friend of mine participated in this sit-in, I was so impressed! I just cannot get my head around these attitudes. And in case those people aren't aware, around about half of all children will grow up to have breasts, amazing isn't it??
I was impressed that they did the sit in too... I noticed my mums attitude to breastfeeding has change over the 7 years (give or take a bit) that I have been doing it, shes always been supportive, now though shes happy that I am still feeding miss 12 months and thinks I should go till shes nearly 2 if that works for us
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