In it she has some wonderful photos from the early 20th century (1900-1940s or so) that show that nursing in public was perfectly acceptable in our country less than a century ago. With the rise of formula companies and their marketing strategies, breastfeeding began to be seen as undesireable and even shameful. That concept has become so ingrained in our culture that some people don’t even realize that it wasn’t always this way!

I leave the comments open to opinions on both sides. In general, comments will not be deleted unless, in my opinion, they involve name-calling or threatening, or are generally offensive. Debate is fine, opinion is fine, calling someone “a terrible person” is not fine (yes someone did this and that is why her comment did not appear). I have also edited comments to delete inappropriate material but let the rest of the comment stand. If a particular post becomes too much of a problem, I will close the comments.

Here is the comment policy, but I use my discretion in all cases:

http://www.breastfeeding123.com/let%e2%80%99s-talk-about-breasts-baby-let%e2%80%99s-talk-about-you-and-me/

Angela, maybe you should consider removing obvious posts like hers? I’m not into censorship but really, she takes the cake! And the result is it just disrupts the nice conversation that you had going…=}

It’s all about education. Businesses need to be educated about breastfeeding just as much as people in general. And honestly, WAL-MART? Most people that breastfeed for extended periods of time are educated, right? I would bet that most of the employees at Wal-Mart are probably not very educated {Not saying that only College Grads or stay at home moms nurse} and they work. So how likely is it that the manager and employees actually know ANYTHING about breastfeeding??? Or if they did breastfeed I would be surprised if it was more than 6 weeks, if that.
I am a long time breast feeder {2 1/2 yrs}, I nurse in public whenever, where ever and I live in SC. I have never been harassed in anyway and those that have noticed, never say much or make nasty faces. I’m not showing more than I have to {although I pullout over the shirt instead of under} I never felt the need to cover up unless I was around a lot of men and have felt comfortable doing it anywhere.
I have pumped only a few times but didn’t like it so I didn’t do it. For the first year of DS life I never left him for more than 2 hours in anyone trip so I had no use for a pump and found them to be a waste of money for those of us who stay home.
I am a passionate breast feeder but I try very hard not to bash women who use formula or supplement because you never no what is going on or what went on in their life to turn them away from breastfeeding. Some women that can’t/won’t breastfeed may have a history of sexual abuse in their life. Or they may have had breast cancer, they maybe drug addicts, or they may just be crappy moms. You never know. So I feel that people should be sensitive to others who formula feed/supplement, just because you don’t know their reason behind it. I mean, it’s not like you’re going to be so rude to say, "HEY! Were you sexually abused as a kid?! Is that why you don’t breastfeed?"
And I say, Kudos to you Amy for trying. At LEAST you TRIED. Some women don’t do that much for their babies.

People like me? I in no way insulted you, I simply asked a question. Your response did not sound like one that would come from a breastfeeding Mom, and I wanted to clarify.

” Also, when planning to go out in public, I always took more than enough with me, and set a logical time frame around that. (The price of motherhood). Just like you don’t drive from NYC to LA on a half-tank of gas. Prior proper planning, after all, prevents poor performance. If I want to spend seven hours (or more) out of the house, I find a sitter, or save the trip until I have enough extra milk set aside.”

Even when I was EBFing and I would pump, I would only get 1-1.5 ounces per breast. Some woman’s bodies don’t respond well to a pump. There is absolutely no way I could pump enough to cover every time I leave the house.

As far as covering up, I do, I would prefer not to flash people if at all possible, I think the point though, and the laws to protect breastfeeding Moms, is for that just in case predicament, you know? If there was no place to go, and there was nothing to cover up, and baby needed to be fed.

“Other people making out or having sex in public IS like breastfeeding, in that it does make SOME PEOPLE uncomfortable. The sexuality of it isn’t my point; and I know there’s nothing sexual about breastfeeding. There’s also nothing sexual about feet, but people still center adult films around them. Someone could be going home and thinking lusty thoughts about you feeding your baby; doesn’t that make your skin crawl?”

I try not to think about what other people sexualize. Otherwise I’d never leave the house!

until then, nursing moms have every right to breastfeeding their babies in public and they should NOT be made to feel odd or like some sort of freak for doing so. basically the law states that i do not have to take your feelings into consideration when it comes to feeding my child.

it’s quite silly to equate feeding a baby to ’spewing racial epithets.’ one act nourishes a life while the other, is essentially just words. last i checked a life wasn’t able to be sustained by words nor were scientists studying them in order to find a possible cure for cancer.