Public Breatsfeeding…

[splaying]

I could care less if your child was a baby or was 18 months old. if you breast feed the child are you going to say now you are of such an age you cannot do it in public any longer.. does the child realize he is now of that age when it is no longer acceptable.. something seems to be lacking in that statement.. perhaps I am the lacker.. so dear lady clear it up for me... for me I could care less what you all do.. it is nice your child is being fed whereas most American ladies work all day so there is no milk for their child at all thus they need to haul around bottles etc to get the job done.. you here in the deep South can get the job done the natural way which is by far the best way possible too.. All the more power to all of you too!!!

 

[arlean]

It's true. Most American women do work all day and can't nurse their babies. It isn't that they don't want to. That's part of the destruction of the culture of America. We were fed a line of bull in the 60's (I think it was) that it is demeaning to be a mother and wife and change diapers and nurse babies, we should even forego children altogether and have a career like those lucky men do. So eventually most people abandoned the kids all day and they became latchkey kids.

Now taxes are so high, the living standard is so high that there is little choice--two people have to work. But a lot of parents are making the sacrifice now, realizing it was all a mistake and they were deceived. But you are absolutely right. Two expat women here lately expressed this very thing to me. One beautiful woman sat across from me for coffee and said, "We were told we could have it all and it wasn't true." I went to walk with another at the Lakes of Palermo and in the walk she expressed it differently. She said, "We were told we could be equal with men, that there is no difference, and it is not true." These women are getting it. We were not intended to be men. We were intended to be women. And the men were intended to be men. Each has a different but equally important function. Each was intended to be special.

But at the same time, some women can't be home with their babies, no matter how much they are willing to sacrifice. In that case, we just do the best we can and God bless those women who do their best!

 

[NYKate]

I breastfeed in public but cover myself up while doing so as I understand that some people may find it offensive and, honestly, I don't feel comfortable exposing myself in public. That said, I also wish that some women would cover themselves up a bit better while doing so as well. I have seen women pulling their breasts out in public and leaving them exposed. There is a way to keep it discreet and private, using a blanket or nursing cover like Nikad stated.

 

[Crema Americana]

I saw a woman breastfeeding as she was walking through the mall. No cover or nothing. That woman just didn't care.

 

[Napoleon]

A lady got on the Subte C tonight with 2 to 3 kids under the age of 5. (One ran off immediately and only came back about 3 stops later as I was exiting the car.) She looked to be about 24, the kid that later wouldn't be getting the teet looked to be on her 3rd day without a bath (maybe 4th). I had first noticed her because even though it's fairly cold and windy this evening, she was showing about 20 centimeters of belly from the top of her jeans to the bottom of her midriff top thing under her light jacket. One of her kids sat down in an empty chair and then a girl right next to that seat hurriedly stood up to offer her seat to the mom carrying the little one... or perhaps it was just a natural instinct because her clothes had just come back from the cleaners. Anyway, after a few seconds, out popped the mom's boob and away the smallest one went.

I thought about standing up, pushing a couple of people out of the way, and then pointing to the little one have a cena de leche that there's a thread on BA Expats that you ought to check out. But it was about 9:15pm... (why wouldn't three kids under 5 be out on the town at 9:15pm?), I was getting ready to hop off the subte, and the 3rd kid had just returned from somewhere with a lovely dinner of two plastic rolls of koisko cookies and two other packs of some sweet carb enriched Bleached Flour-n-HFCS concoction that would have brought a tear to a Monsanto stock holder's eye. So I just let it go and exited at my stop.

But yeah... boobs flop out everywhere in this town. It's just the way it is.

 

[lamarque]

I find funny how is possible that a naked boob feeding a kid is so weird sight for Americans that you even open a thread for it Is like you are brainwashed to see it as a sexual object and only that, there is nothing offensive on the loving act of a mother feeding her kids, it just show her love to them and keep them healthier. And for real you don-t need to see it if your wires are so crossed in your head that you find that image somehow offensive, in the other side if the children is not feed and start to cry even if you don-t want to hear it you will not be able to avoid it, So what better? Hear a boy crying or having the mother taking care of him?

 

[lamarque]

I was reading the comment on the article of the Belgian couple that were kicked for breastfeeding their children and i just start watching the comments and the ones that were receiving more "like it", and for real i never expect to see so many comment telling that was the correct thing to do or telling that they should go back to their country if they want to do this vulgarities in front of other people..... wtf for real? but the most disturbing thing is that this comment were the ones receiving the highest approval..

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

One needs to understand and appreciate the cultural differences between countries. In Alabama we Baptists don't dance because it's too much like having sex standing up. Not really, but it's not far from the truth.

I think the most enlightening thing about this thread is thinking about my own norms and how they have changed as I have lived and worked in different countries. However, I don't see myself peeing in the street anytime soon. :huh: