Breastfeeding...support?
June 23, 2009
First of all, let me say that I've never gotten any flack over breastfeeding. I must hang out in uninteresting places or - *gasp* - have uninteresting breasts, because no one has ever objected to me feeding my babies, and by my calculations the ol' girls have been at work for about...um...seven hundred years now. Five years. Whatever. I have nursed 'em in the rain, and on a train, and in a box, and with a...well, near a fox, anyhow. And in all that time, with all those opportunities, no one has ever said ANYTHING to me. I've never been asked to leave a restaurant, never been kicked off a plane, never been arrested, nothing.
Other people have all the fun.
Honestly, though, I attribute my unopposed lactation to two things: I'm comfortable with breastfeeding, and I'm pretty darn good at doing it without flashing nipple or swathing myself in blankets (tome, the blanket over the shoulder is sort of like a flashing neon sign - "BOOB AT WORK HERE"). Once, when Tre was a baby, I was taking college classes and I had a childcare crisis, so I took him with me to my literature class. At the end of the class, the professor walked over to me and said, "Your baby was just as good as gold - I never even knew he was there. Oh, is he sleeping?" I sat there, TOTALLY NURSING THE BABY, and nodded back and said, "YUP. Sleeping." Everyone was happy.
So the other night I was at Raphael's baseball game, and one of the other team moms came over to say hi and admire Sophia. Unfortunately, she also asked to hold her, and stupidly, I said SURE and handed her over, and she promptly got upset. Sophia, not the mom. She doesn't particularly like a) strangers or b) being passed around. Seriously, I should get those facts tattooed on my arm, so I can remember and head off meltdowns. So the mom handed her back, and I started trying to settle her back down. After a few minutes Sophia started subtly indicating that she might like a wee nip o' the milk (face-butting my breast), so I pulled out a blanket and flung it over her head (THE BLANKET WAS MY MISTAKE. AM CONVINCED). Just then the 13 year old son of the other mom walked up to ask her something. She turned to him and held him at bay with a warning hand.
"THIS WOMAN," she gestured broadly at me, "IS ABOUT TO BREASTFEED HER BABY. SO YOU WILL WANT TO GO SOMEPLACE ELSE NOW."
And GOOD LORD, but was the poor 13 year old happy to find some other place to be in that moment. He scurried away, to a land where he was safe from hearing his mother say things like BREAST. I goggled at the woman for a moment, then turned my attention to one pissed-off baby who was both hungry AND stuck under a blanket.
Um...thank you for your support?
you should hire this woman to accompany you everywhere so all 13 year-olds will be forewarned.
Posted by: bob | June 24, 2009 at 07:26 AM
Jeez. Thanks for the PSA, lady.
If she would've kept her yawp shut, the kid probably would never have known what was happening.
Posted by: Aimee | June 24, 2009 at 08:40 AM
we were out to dinner a few nights ago and my sister simply mentioned the possibility of having to feed my nephew (not loudly). the table behind us started balking. talking about "dinner and a show" and the woman at the table said, "I'm a woman and I'M offended." My sister didn't hear, but I wanted to smack the hell out of her...
people....fuh.
Posted by: shannon in oregon | June 24, 2009 at 10:51 AM
I received very flack when nursing my girls. Given what my reaction would've been, it was a good thing. None of my girls would ever deign to nurse while under a blanket, so I got very good at the discreet nursing thing.
Posted by: Michelle | June 24, 2009 at 08:08 PM
Awesome, people should definitely print up signs that stand up on their own that read: "YES, I ABOUT TO BREASTFEED MY BABY, SO YOU WILL WANT TO GO SOMEPLACE ELSE NOW. THANK YOU." *chuckles* I don't think that boy would have even noticed it if the mom hadn't made such a big deal about it. I've never seen a breastfeeding mother pull out her breast, waggle it all around in the air, and yell, "Look at me! I'm breastfeeding" before doing so. THAT would call attention to breastfeeding. Anything else is pretty natural (and the blanket thing bothers me, and I'm not a mom or a baby. It can be too darned hot for that sometimes, and no one should be there to ogle or stare at your breasts anyway.) Anyone who can see that a mom is breastfeeding and immediately think, "Oh, boobies!" needs to have their head readjusted.
(I just read the comments, and I like bob's idea: You need to hire that woman as a boob crier who can go ahead of you and let people know what time it is.)
Posted by: jess | June 24, 2009 at 08:14 PM
What kills me is when I'm in the "Mother's Lounge" at church and in THERE the poor babies are stuck under blankets! Um, if you're going to do all that just stay in Sunday school I say. But instead I feel like the scandalous immodest trumpet... Looking forward to that again in about 6 months.
Posted by: kerri | June 26, 2009 at 06:52 PM