Boobs...Not Just For Decoration

To be honest, I liked breastfeeding, but I'm kind of glad that's all behind me for the time being. I got so tired of people's attitudes about nursing that I'd bring a bottle of pumped milk almost every time we went out. Of course finding the time to pump the milk was an incredible pain...and when the baby drank it all and wanted more what else could I do! My in-laws are the worst of all on this matter. They changed the subject whenever I even mentioned that the baby needed fed, like it was something too shameful to speak of! What is the matter with people!

A friend of mine wrote recently about 3 people who wrote angry letters to the editor of her local paper saying that "breastfeeding in public should be a crime". Half the time these are the same people who let thier children watch R rated movies and listen to pop rock. One woman said she wouldn't want to have to explain to her young children what that woman is doing under that blanket...oh yes, that would corrupt them so much to know the natural function of a mother's body. Nevermind what they are exposed to just in the checkout lines at the supermarket on all those Maxim magazine covers! I don't see anyone writing angry letters to the editor about that! Where is the outrage when the tv shows almost completely naked women gallovanting about on almost every channel...night after night after night?? Where?

Our society has become so twisted, so backwards, that seeing a woman's bosom almost in it's entirety on a billboard in a black bra is no biggie, yet seeing a woman breastfeeding under a shawl...why that should be a crime! How shocking! Oh my poor delicate sensibilities lol! I think I'm going to faint!What kind of world is it when the overt sexualization and marketing of women's bodies is normal and acceptable, yet the natural and beautiful mothering function of her body is spoken of as if it is shameful? I'll tell you. A society which exploits and devalues women! And not just women, but children as well.

Do women breastfeed in public to prove a point, to flaunt their breasts, to make themselves look holier than thou, or to FEED THIER HUNGRY BABIES? From my experience it is at least 99.9% the latter, in every case.

So many women are so uncomfortable about breastfeeding in public, they introduce the bottle too soon and end up damaging or ending their nursing relationship, which in the end hurts no one as much as the baby, who is missing out on all those golden breastmilk ingredients which scientists have yet to reproduce in a lab!

Let me tell you something. I am all for modest breastfeeding. There are plenty of ways to do this whether it be through blankets or shawls or nursing clothing. But there is an art to it. If you're brand new at breastfeeding, latching on and off can be extremely difficult under a blanket or while holding a shirt open with one hand! So if someone catches a glimpse, hey, you know what, it's not on purpose to make you hot! But nursing in public is sometimes the only option when you have a screaming baby who needs fed NOW. Nursing in a car or the toilet of a public restroom is unhygenic and uncomfortable, and the former totally impossible for those of us who don't drive. And even for those who do, is mom supposed to leave a cart full of groceries to run out to her car? Children are developing unhealthy attitudes towards breastfeeding when they are given toy bottles and tugged away from a mother and baby before they see anything "scandalous". What most moms don't seem to get is that children are not bothered at all by breasts! They are as innocent as Adam and Eve before the fall. It's grown-ups who impose thier own sense of shame, shame on them!

My 3 year old has seen me nurse her younger sister many times in the past. She knows that a mother's breasts are for nursing babies and that babies are hungry for mother's milk. She knows that if she has a baby someday she will make milk with her own body and breastfeed as well. This thought makes her feel happy and powerful as a future woman! She often cheerfully chirps, "My baby doll is fussy, she needs to nurse!" And there is not a single thing wrong with that!

What happens to women and children when you tell them that nursing is shameful? They lose thier sense of empowerment, the sense of pride in themselves that is entitled to them as being beyond anything man can replicate! And it's hurting the child, sentencing them to more infections, more colds, higher risks for diabetes and psychological disorders, and possibly even a lower IQ!Ladies, here in America you do have rights, or rather, your baby has rights! In almost all of the 50 states, you have the right to breastfeed whenever and wherever your baby wants. Despite what society may wish for you to believe, no one is going to haul you off to jail! You may get the occasional odd look, but in my experience, that's about the extent of it.

Creating a false and exaggerated sense of shame about motherhood is damaging to our society in general, we need to respect and honor our mothers for their God-given role as nurturer and co-creator!

I don't have a problem with women nursing in full view, but I personally am modest just in general, that is just my own personal preference. I would love it if all places were required to have nursing rooms the same as they must have restrooms, just so the option would be there, but until that happens don't be intimidated! We mother's need to fight for our children's right to eat!

And don't be ashamed! Mother Mary nursed in public! There are several beautiful paintings of this which were created hundreds of years ago, back before the days of bottles and underwire push-up bras, when people understood what breasts are for! As you can see, I've included a few of them in this post. Aren't they beautiful!