Breasfeeding in America - what a shocker!?

Question

I'm from Australia and I was in the states in October with my husband and 7 month old baby. I was shocked at the way people reacted to my breastfeeding my bub.
Comments like "isn't she a little too old to be breastfed?" At 7 months old! In Australia we are encouraged to breastfeed until 2 years old!
And to breastfeed while i was in public - oh my God! The way people were getting so uncomfortable! I am modest and i don't just flop it out, but heck if bub is hungry i will feed her, discretely.
It is illegal over here to tell someone they are not allowed to breastfeed in a public place, and now i hear some places in the USA do not allow mothers to breastfeed.
I don't get it??? I was in total culture shock for the 3 weeks i was there. I felt so sorry for American mums who want to breasfeed but who will probably bottle feed or give up breastfeeding because they are looked down upon, or they have had it engraved in their mind that it is 'disgusting' or 'sexual'.
such a shame!

Just quick note to vito...

I breastfed my bub for 7 months in Asutrlaiua before i went to the states and nver once felt weird or that people were giving me looks. I never once had someone make a negative comment.
It was only when i came to America that i noticed this, so no, i don't think that i was oticing something that wasn't there. thanks.

Answer 1

I know exactly how you feel even though I didn't get to breastfeed my son. My cousin had her baby a couple months before I had mine and she did. Her brother-in-law is so immature and stuck at a 14 years olds mentality sometimes that he had the nerve to walk into HER home and say "there better not be a boob hanging out." This guy is so into his wife being his that he told her she would not breastfeed when they had their baby because her boobs were his and his alone, not meant for her to feed their child.

I was also very disgusted last year when the magazine Babytalk had a cover of a woman breastfeeding her child. The comments that a lot of women gave were horrible. One woman who gets the magazine said that she felt embarrassed and she could not leave it laying around the house because she didn't want to sons (almost teenage boys) to see a naked boob. By the way you couldn't even see the nipple or any part of it just the flesh of the side of the boob.

These are the types of people that need to have a few classes in sensitivity and what is best for children.

Answer 2

I agree it is a shame. I live in the USA and my son is 7 mo. old and I still breastfeed him. If I'm out in public and he needs to be fed, I'll feed him too. I do get odd looks from people, but no body has said anything to me yet. If someone were to tell me I had to leave some place because I was breastfeeding my son, they probably end up with a lawsuit on their hands.

Answer 3

Yes it is a shame that people are like that. I am an American women who just stopped nursing. I never felt comfortable doing it is public because I know I would get looks. There were a few times where I just did not care and did it anyway! There is a law in most states in the US that permits us to nurse in any public place. I actually went on line and printed it out to carry with me! By law ( in most states) a women cannot be asked to stop nursing a baby. As long as she is covering her breast to a certain point.

Answer 4

I agree. Lots of women here are looked down on for breastfeeding in public. I see it as a beautiful bonding experience between mother and baby. I think there should be some kind of law in place to protect breastfeeding mothers rights to feed when and where they have to in the US. It is a shame how breastfeeding mothers are treated here.

Answer 5

Many people over here buy into the notion of the breast as a SEXUALIZED thing and not a baby-feeding tool. I firmly believe that a mother should be allowed to feed her baby when it's hungry and especially not to have have to "hide " somewhere to do it. Everyone over here seems to think that a public bathrrom is a good place for a mother to breastfeed but I say GROSS. You wouldn't eat YOUR meal in there, it's unhygienic and disgusting. As long as the mother isn't making a nudie show out of it I see no problem....

Answer 6

I agree it is going to not be a marvel however the only one's that could exchange it are the mummy and dad ..we ought to coach our infants that even inspite of the incontrovertible fact that there are those conveniences obtainable we nonetheless ought to do issues the previous trend way and actually bypass to the keep and blockbuster and park our very own autos as a exchange of valet and that i for my area make my little ones bypass out element and play whilst they get homestead after college for no less than an hour and then they arrive in do there homestead artwork and then have a million hr to play game cube or in spite of .. they are our infants and not something will exchange till we as adults set the occasion

Answer 7

A little old to be breastfeeding??? *grumbles about stupid people* I am an american and I am proud to say I breastfed my little one til she was nearly two. I didn't care where I was, if she was hungry, she ate. In the middle of the mall if I had to. After the first public feeding I wasn't nervous about it anymore, though i did get some nasty looks once in a while.

Answer 8

AMEN, SISTER!!

I'm american. I breastfeed my son when ever and where ever I am if he's hungry. I do so discreetly, without a blanket over his head. I've breastfed him while doing my shopping and people were shocked to know I was feeding him as my hubby and I shopped.

As far as I know, every state has a law that basiclly states a mom can breastfeed her child anywhere she and the baby have a right to be. (that's our law in GA)

I think it's sad that our culture has taught young girls that their breast are for selling beer and cars and for attracting men but it's shameful to use them to feed a baby.

It's fine to have on a low cut shirt with your breast hanging out (or for Lil Kim to go out in public with a sticker on her nipple!!), okay to wear a string bikini, or Daisy Dukes but it's offensive to you for me to feed my child in public!!!

And I plan to let my son self wean! How weird! Isn't that sexual abuse! That's just gross! Yada yada yada blah blah blah

Ya know, I was self conscience with my 1st son, but with this one, I say . . . well I can't type on here what I say! LOL But I'm gonna feed my son whenever, where ever, and for as long as he wants and not feel the least bit bad about uneducated people thinking I'm doing something wrong or bad! And I try to educate a few people along the way about the benefits of breastfeeding and TODDLER NURSING!! (I'm a breastfeeding counsler-armed with TONS of research and FACTS!!LOL)

Answer 9

I agree, I don't understand why we Americans have such a problem with this. A few months ago, a mother was escorted off of a plane for doing just that. That created quite a protest and the airline eventually apologized. Really is a shame. Sorry for your experience.

Answer 10

I know, I completely agree with you. Breastfeeding is so important for babies and shouldn't be a negative thing especially in public. They need to change their ways and accept that breastfeeding has nothing to do with sex or anything else. We are just feeding our babies the way God intended.