Do you think it's appropriate to nurse in public?

Answer 1

I think it's inappropriate. Sure it's a natural thing to do when the need arises. So is pissing...but women don't just do it anywhere do they? If a woman has to nurse, do it where it's private and out of people's view. This way, it works for everyone.

Answer 2

Anyone who would find the sight of a hungry infant being fed has a serious issue with their priorities.

Breastfeeding a child is not only the way that nature intended, it has also been proven over and over by every standard to be the best and healthiest method, offering significant benefits for the infant in later life with, among other things, disease resistance.

These mums need to feel comfortable and relaxed to provide their infant with the sustenance it needs ~ this is not a convenience thing, it is actual survival!

And, as most nursing mothers place a shawl or blanket around their shoulders and the baby's head while nursing, they are revealing very little.

Even if they were, this is false shame, not a real issue at all ~ consider the fact that until the 1970s it was considered inappropriate for women to BOTTLE FEED in public. Until the 1990s women were not supposed to wear clothing that showed they were pregnant. Women who appeared on tv shows or in jobs with the public were sometimes not allowed to work in that position with a 'baby bump', or had to disguise it somehow. Is that more moral and less offensive? I don't think so!

Public breastfeeding might be an unwelcome reminder to some people that the 'sex toy' aspect of breasts is only a secondary use, for the rest of us it's a welcome change to some wholesome values that put nursing mothers ahead of outdated and puerile ideas.

Answer 3

Stephimm's answer is a good one. There's not a thing wrong with breastfeeding in public and it is true that due to nipple confusion many women do not have the option of the bottle. There's also not a thing wrong with throwing a light blanket over the whole operation and no one has to see anything. As to trying to find a private place, that's not always an option, either. When the little one starts announcing it's feeding time, they aren't polite about it, nor patient. One is often faced with the uncomfortable choice of annoying everyone around you with your screaming child, or sitting down immediately to feed the little darling in public. Frankly, I'm happy to see moms choosing the second route every chance they get, and can't imagine why anyone would be offended by it.

Furthermore, not once in my life have I ever seen a woman expose anything during the act of breastfeeding in public that would make even the most conservative person uncomfortable. I typically see more breast tissue exposed on the little sixteen year olds running around the mall than I do on the mothers feeding their babies. And if someone is nervous about the possibility of seeing something they don't want to see, well then, don't look!

Get over it, people - even if something is inadvertently exposed, it's not intended to be offensive and it isn't anything unnatural or that you couldn't find in the pages of National Geographic or on the Discovery Channel. It's a sweet and beautiful thing and anyone making a nursing mother feel bad for feeding her child in the most natural way possible should be ashamed of themselves.

Answer 4

I think it's perfectly fine. Women don't nurse in public so they can show off their breasts--they do it because they have to feed their children. I've yet to see a nursing mom be anything but discreet while nursing her child. Besides--if a child is properly latched on, *very* little of the breast is exposed anyway, and most women I've seen even went as far as to cover their shoulder/the baby's head with a blanket.

Why do so many people have a problem with nursing mothers, yet they think it's perfectly acceptable for women to prance up and down the beach wearing nothing more than a barely-there thong bikini that's practically busting at the seams? Or teenage girls/young women wearing shorts so short you can see their butt cheeks, and such a low-rise waist, you're practically looking at their pubic hair?

Anyone who has a problem with a nursing mother needs to avert their eyes. Same as with violence/nudity on TV--if you don't like it, DON'T LOOK.

Answer 5

I think it is. It can and should be done with courtesy to those around you. Public nudity is uncomfortable for many people in this country, and nursing mothers should be respectful of that. When I would nurse my son in public I would always drape a blanket over him, not only for the comfort of others, but for my own comfort. I don't think nursing mothers should have to hide away while nursing, just do it with some tact.

Answer 6

I think there's nothing wrong with it. People get into such a tizzy when someone is in public nursing a baby, but we have no problem with a 15 year old young girl with short shorts that show her butt and a halter top trying to squeeze her boobs out of the top. We need to figure out where we draw the line on 'exposing oneself' and apply it to all situations. If showing a breast is exposure, then when have we made an entire fashion industry based on showing skin?

Answer 7

Depends on how public; usually when I even notice it, it is discreet and OK. There are S O M E (note some, not all, not a majority, but some) who are exhibitionists and like to just show off in public.
Nothing to do but ignore them.

My general life experience that people with much class feed their babies in private, however.

Answer 8

Baby's who are totally breastfed will often not take a bottle. If babies are given a bottle when they are too young, they get nipple confusion and will often reject the breast for the bottle once they get a chance as the bottle is easier. They don't have to work for the milk. Bottles are simply not an option for many breastfeeding moms.
It is entirely fine with me to discretely breastfeed a baby in public. That does not mean you have to flop your breast out for one and all to see. It means you wear a top that is loose to give you easy access to your breast. Some nursing tops don't require the use of a blanket thrown over baby while breastfeeding because of the design of them. Otherwise, a light blanket over the top of baby feeding is very discreet. Also, there is now the option of rooms in many malls and large public areas for mom to sit in comfort in a room just for breastfeeding baby.
I know that some women are perfectly comfortable with flopping their breast out there for one and all to see. I was pregnant or breastfeeding for 9 years of my life. It makes me uncomfortable to see this when it is done purposely.
In addition, if you are breastfeeding a toddler, they can wait until there is privacy as they will no longer tolerate the blanket over the head and discression of that kind of breastfeeding. Just as they can wait a few minutes for a meal, snack, or a bottle, they can wait a few minutes for the breast.

Answer 9

Etiquette is well-known habit, many times designed with the aid of conventional consent as to be a maximum favorable habit. to illustrate the etiquette for somebody suffering flatulence is to get rid of themselves from a social amassing earlier relieving themselves as a fashion to no longer offend others. Frankly, i've got confidence that youthful mothers go through adequate artwork and soreness already without others annoying that they breast feed on a rest room or below a blanket as a fashion to spare us the stress of being outdoors our convenience zones. enable's settle for it, who relatively has the concern right here? The breastfeeding mom who chooses to priorities the care of their toddler over the prudishness of others, or observers of the mummy who go through soreness with the aid of fact of an assessment equipment that would not differentiate between motherly care and exhibitionism? Being male, the greater suspect intercourse, I do take exhilaration in attention on the element of a breastfeeding mom. If mum takes some attempt to guard her modesty I do experience greater well-off. this is especially with the aid of fact I even have an apprehension of being seen a perv. i do no longer think of this could be a sturdy adequate rationalization for mum to withhold sustenance from her newborn nevertheless. I felt unhappy analyzing a pair of mom feeding her newborn at the same time as sitting on the floor and being pestered with the aid of canines. i might want to think of that i might have presented her some suggestions even with any soreness i will have felt.

Answer 10

Yes i think it alright for anyone to nurse in public because it is nothing to hide or be ashamed about. Why should a women feel embarrassed about feeding her child when its hungry? If it makes other people stare or give looks, ignore them because they do not know the beauty it is to nurse a child.

Answer 11

Nothing wrong with it at all.

It's completely natural and its best for the child and mother as well, contrary to the opinions of most people who push formula and encourage women not to nurse.