No need to take cover
Being the type that doesn’t like to stay home that much, I was out on the run from the day after I brought my little Ty home from the hospital. That meant I was out a lot when I fed him. Breastfed him, I mean. In the beginning, every feeding was uncomfortable from the shear newness to the entire process. I felt the most uncomfortable feeding in front of others.
I don’t even feel respectable wearing shorts or skirts to my knee, (all those years of christian school at work), never mind exposing my breast to everyone. I got over that quick, as I sat in pain and agony trying to get Ty to latch on. My mom, MIL and Hubby were there to help me through that, but I almost gave up. Still, besides those 3 people, in the beginning I still felt the need to cover up when feeding him.
I was a fanatic about using a blanket covering up the entire process whenever I was out. Then he got older and more grabby. He hated having a blanket over his face. The days of the blanket were out the door. I breastfed him until he was a year old, and by that time I gave up trying to hide it. I was discreet as possible, but with a more concrete confidence about the entire process, I didn’t really care if people saw or not. Two months later I had Toby and never even bothered with a blanket.
I think ignorance may lead to the uncomfortableness that is expressed about the entire process. I know it was my own that caused mine. I remember talking with my boss before I went on maternity leave about whether I would come back after having Ty. I hinted to him that we should have a lactation room so I could pump because I knew I was committed to breastfeeding for at least a year. He was mortified that I even said the word lactation. If he wasn’t normally such a cool boss and friend I would of been angry.
Alright, enough about that. I got another hot topic in mind this week. Spanking. I want to know, do you spank your children? Remember, I can’t tell who votes for what, so please feel free to be honest ![]()
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6 Responses to “No need to take cover”
September 30th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
I always wondered about breastfeeding in public questions….. I really believe a woman can breastfeed in public without full exposure or suffocating a child
The babies head covers most everything up! So I find the question to be a little vague. Definition is everything…
September 30th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
How apropos that you posted this today. I was in B&N today and passed by a mom nursing her baby without covering in the Starbucks lounge. I made a point to pass by her again and commend her for doing what she was doing. She seemed pleasantly shocked that I would stop and say something positive to her.
It was great to see!
When I was nursing my girls, I NEVER felt comfortable nursing in public, much less in my house with other people there.
Now I know better, but I wish I had known then.
Yeah for boobies!
October 1st, 2007 at 8:27 am
I eventually got really good at the “under the shirt” move. Still, I received some dirty looks from people even when you couldn’t see a thing! Some people seemed annoyed by the IDEA that I was nursing in public. Those are the people that really irritate me!
October 1st, 2007 at 2:57 pm
I love that picture. I’ve only been on the other end of criticism, the you are a horrible mother because you don’t breastfeed, but I so don’t understand the puritanical brouhaha over public breastfeeding.
October 1st, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Although I’m a regular LLL meeting attender, pro-breastfeeder, nursed my 1st for 13 mos, and am now nursing my second, I don’t even cover up when nursing, I actually agree with facebook. If someone marked the image as obscene, then they have the responsibility to remove it. The other part is, I haven’t seen the image in question - was it a tasteful picture of a mother nursing her child? Or was it a picture of a baby latching on - mouth open wide, whole nipple exposed?
October 8th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
[…] The spanking poll revealed exactly as I thought it would. Most people don’t spank their children now a days and some think spanking is child abuse. Still others, think lack of spanking is the reason our younger society seems to be in more trouble and rude. […]