I am for babies who are fed in any way their mothers see fit to feed them, whether it be from their breasts or from a bottle (with or without formula).
I see fit to feed my child with my breasts which make milk just for her, and I do it anywhere she happens to become hungry.
I tried nursing with a cover, especially when we first got started. Breastfeeding may be natural, but it sure as hell isn't easy for the first month or so, and we found comfort with a cover while we both fumbled and learned. She learned to latch right and I learned that breastfeeding is the most asexual experience I have ever had. There is nothing sexual about squashing your boob "like a hamburger" and helping your infant find her mouth's way to your body while you are dripping all over your shirt... on both sides. If you haven't experienced it, just trust me.
After the first 6 weeks it got easier to feed her, but the cover started to bother her, make her sweat, and unlatch due to discomfort. I thought she was pounding her little fists into my chest and yelling at my breast between latching and unlatching because the milk was coming out too fast/too slow, but it wasn't that at all: she was uncomfortable. And to be honest, I was too. A blanket slipping all over while an infant sucks zealously on a sensitive part of your body isn't comfortable for me.
Now that we have gotten the hang of breastfeeding, we love it. It's really easy and natural for us (we're fortunate to experience ease because of our great start at breastfeeding immediately after birth) and has become a no-fuss way to get her belly full. No more, no less.
I just want my baby to not be hungry.
I see fit to feed my baby anywhere we happen to be.
I see fit to breastfeed my child without a cover, unless I want one for my own comfort.
And I am tired of corporations, businesses and people ignorantly acting like breastfeeding is anything other than what I have described here.
It's not exclusively meant to be private; that implies that something is wrong about it and it should go unseen.
It does not need to be covered up; that implies that something is wrong about it and it should go unseen.
It does not need to be done in a bathroom; that is disgusting and implies that it is comparable to ridding your body of excrement.
Nursing in public is always necessary, and if you don't support it then you don't support breastfeeding. Babies get hungry outside of their own homes and need to eat. Mothers can't always pump for bottles because of the time it takes or because they don't have or can't afford a pump. It boggles my mind when ignorant people prefer to see a bottle's nipple in a baby's mouth rather than its mother's nipple in its mouth. A lot of breastfed babies won't even take a bottle. And why should they? A breastfed baby doesn't understand that society has sexualized its food source, but adults can understand. And they should. If you don't like it, look away, grow up and mind your own damn business. Because my kid is hungry and if I don't feed her (how cruel would that be?) she will cry. And then you'll have something else to bitch about.
So I'm going to feed my child as I see fit everywhere, every time.
Stumble it!
2 comments:
I think you have nailed it in the last paragraph - this country has oversexualized breasts. In Europe, it is not uncommon to see photos, commercials or even in person - women topless. I think that is what makes it uncomfortable for others here in the US - there is no reference, printed or otherwise, that isn't sexual related to breasts, so when one is "shown" in public, there has been no desensitizing, but the opposite - sensitizing from birth that breasts are private, sexual parts. Look how much a woman is fined on TV if she has a wardrobe malfunction!
Good for you for sticking up for what you believe! Whether a mom decides to breastfeed or bottle feed, use a cover or not, it's her choice and no one else's. If a child is hungry, they need to be fed. Seriously, people in the U.S. are so immature about the human body and it's many purposes.
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