Breastfeeding

[Lace Neil Singer]

Thing is tho, baby doesn't care if the mother is in a public loo, on a bench or swinging from a chandelier as long as it gets fed. It would be more accurate to say "I don't want to sit on a toilet while breastfeeding" rather than "Baby doesn't want to feed in a bathroom."

[Rebel]

Question is, why should the mother have to slink off to the toilet to feed the baby? I sure as hell don't want to have to sit on a toilet while breastfeeding when I finally have a baby.

First time I ever saw my sister breastfeed my nephew was at a restaurant. We had just finished eating and the baby was hungry. She just sat him in her lap, pulled out her boob and he went to work. I was shocked for about 2 seconds before I reminded myself that I was in fact no longer 10 years old. Baby was eating and no-one in the entire restaurant cared.

I'm always amused by people who are shocked by breastfeeding or want the mothers to be put in a private room where no-one can see them. Not saying some mothers wouldn't love a private feeding room everywhere they go, but that's unlikely to ever happen.

If you don't like seeing anyone breastfeeding, don't watch them.
People who get off watching babies breastfeeding should just find someone willing to indulge in their kink.

[radiocerk]

Public restrooms are disgusting, though. It doesn't matter if the baby doesn't care where it's eating. If I had a child, I wouldn't want to have exposed baby to that many germs while it's trying to eat.

[anakhouri]

I have no idea why people go apeshit over breastfeeding. We are mammals. THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE FOR.

That said, you can breastfeed discreetly; it's not hard, I did it. Never once slipped a nipple or whatever, and I was a first-timer. If a woman lets her naked breasts hang out while breastfeeding, I suspect she is looking for a fight. In which case the best thing you can do is ignore her and not give it to her.

And I never went into the bathroom because A) GROSS B) there usually aren't lids on public toilets so where the hell would I sit? I couldn't breastfeed standing up, my kid is a sasquach and was too heavy and long to hold like that.

Once at a rest stop I was feeding Khan in the car when a gaggle of elderly people emerged from a bus and went to stretch their legs right where we were parked. Husband was freaking out, I just said, "Look, probably most of those old women have done it, and most of those old men have seen it. Chill."

Rebel's right; if you don't like it, don't look. Avert thine eyes. Not difficult.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Public restrooms are disgusting, though. It doesn't matter if the baby doesn't care where it's eating. If I had a child, I wouldn't want to have exposed baby to that many germs while it's trying to eat.

Never said you had to. Just saying that it's not accurate to say that your baby doesn't want to eat in a bathroom, when it doesn't care.

Please go back and read my post properly, rather than spouting a knee jerk reaction.

Also, unless a mother gives the people around her a headsup before beginning, just how are they going to avoid looking in the first place? It's easy to say "don't want to see, don't look" but you can't unlook. Therefore, the mother needs to be respectful and not make a song and dance out of feeding her child, and not pitch a fit if someone happens to look over in her direction while she's doing it. There'd only be a problem if someone looked over, then proceeded to stare gormlessly at them, but that would be a problem in almost any situation, not just this one.

[anakhouri]

I must live in a terribly civilized place (which is funny, as I am in a US state that is often poked fun at for being full of redneck hillbillies) because I have never experienced a woman making a big deal out of breastfeeding or being indiscreet about it. All the breastfeeding moms I know are very discreet and even in public I will occasionally look up to see a woman with a cloth thrown over her shoulder and realize she is nursing (actually most people might not even realize what is happening unless they have done it or been involved with someone doing it themselves).

I feel sorry for all the people who live in places full of inconsiderate, grandstanding, immodest nursing mothers.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I live in a place that is not so very far from Chatham, home of the chav. -.- Having said that, I find that the vast majority of nursing mothers I've seen have been the good kind; only ever seen one who was batshit insane and exposed herself. I'm guessing tho that even before she had a kid, she was still an insane attention whore.

[LadyBarbossa]

If you look at other mammals, you will see that their teats are strictly for feeding.

Not necessarily. I have seen a stallion stick his head under a mare and play with her nipples before mating. I don't think he was thinking about food when he did it.

I don't care if people breastfeed in public, but like others before me have said, at least try to be discreet. I don't want to see your boob whether it's a 'natural and beeyootiful thing' or not. I get just as disgusted when people let their double D's flop around in a bathing suit three sizes too small, too, if it makes any difference to anyone. Also I've heard from so many of my childed friends, stories of breast milk leaking or squirting out uncontrollably. Breast milk is a bodily fluid and should be treated as such. It can carry diseases just like urine or vomit or blood, and I'd rather not come into contact with it, thank you very much.

[blas87]

Pardon my ignorance, as I'm not the maternal type, but isn't it possible to pump milk and have bottles of your own natural breastmilk?

I've heard the stastics that breast milk is best, pumping/breastfeeding burns calories like mad and helps your breasts "heal" from pregnancy better.......if a woman was uncomfortable breastfeeding in public or afraid of bathrooms (as I tend to be, if it wasn't for the fact that I drink pools of water a day or could go 12 hours without going pee, I would avoid public restrooms), couldn't that work?

[anakhouri]

Pumping is not as easy as it sounds. Some women can't do it at all. I myself found it to be time-consuming and uncomfortable. Also, no matter how much you pump, your breasts will still produce milk even if you are not nursing, and while they make pads to soak up any leakage so you don't wet your shirt, it can be very uncomfortable and even painful to have full breasts and no way to release it.