2 of the most common reasons for the remarks. Can't fix stupid.
It's may be coincidence,but I have never heard a remark about my spouse's breastfeeding in public or private. Maybe it's because I am there. And I don't look like the kind of guy who would take it, and I wouln't. Back in your face if you step over the line.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Funny thing is, a beer advertisement is showing more breast than most nursing mothers. It's okay to look at breasts in the Victoria's Secret windows and commercials. But to use them for the reason we have them is disgusting? That's just ridiculous.

I was lucky to live in a large city when I was nursing my daughter and only had the occasional stare. Yet numerous women across the country have been sent to bathrooms and asked to leave public places for doing the most primal requirement of a mother known to mankind, simply because strangers can't stand the thought of a breast being exposed.
I have seen more cleavage bouncing down the street than I ever showed while breastfeeding.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I've also heard many reasons for a mother not breastfeeding.

"the baby didn't like it" - then change your diet.
"I had to work" - then pump.
"It was too much trouble" - your priorities are messed up.

My ex split while I was pregnant. I had the baby on my own, had no choice but to go back to work when she was a few months old and had to parent completely alone, without one ounce of help. And I still managed to breastfeed my daughter for her first 18 months because it is that important.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I'm only 22 years old, and I'm not planning on becoming a mother for at least another half decade or so, but I've already completely made up my mind about two of the most important decisions a mother and mother-to-be has to make:

1. I'm going to have a natural birth at home, with midwives. I'm not going to pump myself and my child full of chemicals that prevent me from experiencing the most beautiful and natural thing any human can expect to experience. I want to feel the pain, and I want to be present cognitively for my child's first few moments of life.

2. I will breastfeed for at least 6 months, though probably much longer. Having and raising a child isn't easy, and it isn't supposed to be; its not convenient, often not pretty, but the rewards far outweight the drawbacks. When I have a child, I want to give it every opportunity to be healthy and happy, and that starts with me and the decisions I make while the child is too young and small to do so for itself.

But people see babies as commodities, something to be paraded and flaunted, something to boost your status in social circles, or something to make money with. Its appalling...

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Yes, breastfeeding is good for the baby, we all know that. However, it is a personal and private act, not for public display. There is no excuse for whipping out your tit in a public space. If you are shopping, there are restrooms, sometimes with babycare areas, and dressing rooms. Or, how about putting your milk into bottles? What else do you wish to show us? Has 'modesty' been removed from the dictionary?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

actually i heard exactly the same thing, that african american children will have a much higher percentage of health and life if they are breastfed, there is already a company that came out just to help and promote breastfeeding. they offer a product that would increase the milk supply and quality, from what I hear the product works great. many woman say that if they dont take it or forgot to take it, that day their baby is crying for lack of good milk quality!
you can visit their website here

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

However you ARE NOT the norm. You are not the massive percentage of women who are uneducated about its benefits and disconnected to networks of supportive and encouraging pro-breastfeeding women and mothers. Most of my patients mothers will flat out tell me the reason they choose not to breastfeed is that they don't have the support of their families, their friends or the community in which they live. They CAN'T do it because they are told they SHOULDN'T do it, that it's shameful, that it should be hidden from view therefore many of them never give it a second thought once those hospital doors close behind them. If it's that shameful and you have to make such a big deal to go into hiding to do it then why bother with all the hassle when Nestle or Gerber or Carnation (pick your poison) can mix you up a batch of processed crap that you can feed your child.

I don't think we're ever going to be like the cultures and communities featured in National Geographic where women walk around with no shirt on all day with their children attached to the breast. Not in this country... Do I discriminate against them because that's their culture? No. I respect them. I respect the pride they have for their bodies and their lack of shame. I respect the fact they are making a choice and doing what is best for their children. (and I admire how most of the time their cultures are MUCH less sexually explicit/focused than ours is.) People who have issues with breastfeeding typically have issues with their own sense of self and sexuality. They tend to be very conflicted between what the social norm is and what the doctors and nurses are telling them about what is best for their child. I can educate, educate, educate all I want, but once a mother leaves the hospital it is up to people in the community to be supportive.

There's really a lot to be said for attempting to be mindful of others (verses expecting everyone else to me mindful of you) and cultivating a supportive and compassionate nature. I'll keep you in my thoughts.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

It's interesting to see people get so passionate about their views. Truly, where would we be without our convictions?
I wish to pass no judgements on the conclusions that others have come to, but I would like to throw my ideas into the discussion:
Firstly, we should remember the honest truth that we are here, typing these comments, reading them and typing more because some woman in our families breastfed a baby at some point that was able to grow. Whether that baby was you or your great-great-great-great grandmother is besides the point. It was only in the early part of the last century (1930's, I think?) that any sort of alternative to breastmilk was even available and even then mixing formula was risky business. While effective at giving nutrition to babies that otherwise would have starved, the facts still remind us that the man-made subsititute can't hold a torch to the undiscovered, unknown proteins and nutritional value of breastmilk. But we all already know that, because our Culture can't hide what the medical community continues to uncover regarding postnatal care.
What remains stubbornly unchanged though, are attitutes from the previous century that I wish the so-called millennium could have washed away. Being a very shy person in public, I consider a certain amount of modesty important, but as a mother of two girls (3 yrs & 22 months)I remember the joys & struggles I had with breastfeeding. I will never forget the times my daughters unlatched, full & drowsy; the memories warm my soul like a blanket. But I'll also never forget the feelings of isolation of having to go hide, feeling almost indecent, all alone in a backroom wherever I could, in whatever uncomfortable position I could manage to try to feed my hungry, daughter when I couldn't afford to stay at home (which was often). "People don't want to see that, it's not right" was the mantra spoken silently. I felt the constraints of these social rules as much as felt the ebbing of my selfesteem along with my milk supply in the early parts of my daughters lives. I could just never get the hang of being able to get a good latch under a blanket and thru a bra and shirt. I confess I was jealous of the women who looked like they barely moved and their babies were eating happily and who didn't have to fumble with clumsy hands and exhausted, blurry eyes.
And I don't think I'm the only one. In a country where it's better to want bigger, rather than healthier, breasts and mothers, even though they specify they are breastfeeding, they are given free diaperbags full of formula "just in case" from hospitals upon departure (the companies the "samples" are given from won't give the hospitals discounts for all the formula they do need otherwise), it just feels like breastfeeding is underminded in my world than it is uplifted.
And I find that sad.
In the end, I was only able to breastfeed for about 2 months for each of my girls for reasons I suspect at least partially psychosomatic. I wish I could have done it for longer but when you're all alone, sitting in an uncomfortable chair, wondering anxiously if your baby is getting enough to eat in your busy schedule just to make endsmeet, it can be hard.
I congradulate every, single woman that weathers this storm of controversy that breastfeeding has become with a small smile and the knowledge that she is providing for her child in a way no other person can. I also congradulate the women who decide to bottlefeed because, they too, are taking the importance of a healthy child very seriously if it turns out that breastfeeding might not work for her family.
Oh, heck.
Let's celebrate all you great parents out there!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

As a European, my first contact with America and its values came as a shock. Its depiction of women as first and foremost sex objects disgust me. The taboo on breastfeeding in public has much to with this attitude, breasts seem OK only if surgically enhanced and prominently displayed, even more valued if offering a better view via a discreet peek down the cleavage.Breast are designed for mainly one thing one thing, the feeding of children. Children get hungry when they get hungry,
they do not have a timetable. It is of course possible to leave them in the crib when you have to go out, good time to teach them the lesson that the world is a tough place. It would make a great research project to find out how many of the feral anti-social hooligans who now haunt our streets were bottle vs. breastfed.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

With all the Diseases & Infections, which can contaminate the body, & the Fluids of the Body, I would suggest that a female, who is Contemplating: Breast-feeding her infant child or anyone who is a Wet-Nurse: "HAVE THE MILK TESTED, FOR ANTIBODIES"...so that the Milk-Fluid, will "Not Transmit, Any Diseases, Unhealthy Fluids, into the Bloodstream of the Infant".
It is difficult to know all the Symptoms of Diseases & Infections, in time for the Prevention of Transmitting unhealthy fluids into an unborn infant, if this is Not Performed, as a Medical Procedure...Prevention of Unhealthy Substances in the Unborn & Born.
Sincerely,
One American Lady

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]