Has fluther had a "breastfeeding in public" debate yet?

If they are covered and discrete, I don’t care.

i don’t think you want me to get started on this topic lol

I’m a huge supporter of breastfeeding in public, covered up or not. Not all babies like their face to be covered while eating, and it’s usually very hot under that blanket especially during the summer time. So, I don’t care if a little nip slips out. It’s breastfeeding, not indecent exposure.

We had a huge discussion a while ago but of course, I can no longer find it.

Edit. Yes, I can (34 answers): http://www.fluther.com/disc/16895/what-do-you-think-of-breastfeeding-in-public-places/

@casheroo Oh by all means, get started! I can’t stand seeing people tell women “you need to go feed your baby in the bathroom!” Ugh. Go for it, get all riled up. Let me know how you really feel, LOL.

I dunno if they have or not…I’m new too…

But, I think it’s fine as long as people are modest about it and don’t have their boob flung out there for all to see. I personally have never seen anyone nursing in public that wasn’t modest about it. When I was nursing I’d go in the bathroom if I needed to feed the baby in public. I didn’t do it because I was worried about offending anyone or because I was hiding, I just didn’t want to get my boob out in public. But if the mother is ok with it, then so am I. Breastfeeding is natural and what breasts are for, so what’s wrong with that?

What troubles me is the woman that breastfeeds her 8 year old. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxv6R9fUO74"

I don’t think that women showing their breasts in public, whether feeding a baby or not, should be considered indecent exposure. This country is way too hung up about nudity.

I think it’s kind of futile to discuss. People who has a problem with it obviously has issues and hang ups which won’t change. Of course It’s natural, not sexual, and if you get offended the problem is with you. You don’t have to watch it if you don’t want to.

In any case – feeding a baby or not – it’s just a tit. Every man on the beach is topless too.

@daloon I feel the same way. I personally don’t care if you can see boobage while a woman nurses a baby. Wagging around your “down there” is another matter entirely, LOL. I don’t want to see wangs and vajayjays flashing left and right!!

I don’t think there is anything wrong with it. At my local mall, there are family lounges where parents can take their children if diapers need changing, babies need feeding, etc. There are stalls with big comfy chairs and curtains where women can go to breastfeed if they want. I think this is a good idea because not all women want to breastfeed where everyone can see. This way, you can take your kids and you can feed baby and dad can take care of the other little ones that need taking care of. Even if there weren’t family lounges, I think women should be able to feed their babies however and wherever they want. It’s up to momma and baby, nobody else.

I have no problem with women breast feeding discretely. It is a natural thing. I also understand not everyone wants to see it.
The problem I have is as soon as women are encouraged to openly breast feed in public, some other women are going to start screaming about discrimination, and why can’t they whip a tit out in the middle of a restaurant if they want to.

I wouldn’t want other guys looking at my wife breastfeeding…I’m a guy and I know how guys think and I can tell what they’re looking at and what they’re thinking when they look at a certain something. You see it when another guy checks out your girl…it’s ok just use a baby towel to cover up…no need to have it exposed…

@elijahsuicide Yup. I have no issue, even if I see the boob flop out before nursing… But not everyone is comfortable with that, so I think a light blanket is great. No need to suffocate baby, one of those thin flannel receiving blankets works just fine.

I can legally expose my nipples in public, so I don’t see why women can’t.

I make a point never to breastfeed in public.

bitty.

I think it should be allowed. It gives me reason to say “I’ll have what he’s having”

What creeps me out is when some of these kids are still being breastfed as toddlers. I’ve been seeing more of that lately. I think one should know a child is too old to breastfeed when he can unlock mommy’s bra with one hand.

@AstroChuck The WHO (world health organization) recommend exclusive breastfeeding up until six months of age, then breastfeeding until 2 years old.
http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/infantfeeding_recommendation/en/index.html
An 18 month old breastfeeding may look like a toddler breastfeeding, but it’s in the best interest of the child.

@casheroo- Well, if a mom is going to breastfeed that late then I hope she has two-percent, what with the rise in pediatric obesity and all.

Women that breastfeed have a knobble on the side of their breast, they can turn it into Skim, 1%, and 2%...didn’t you know that?

@casheroo: Truth. ;)

My mother breastfed me with powdered milk. That was my fist diy project.

I breastfed three babies, and never once had to “whip my boob out” or had a boob “flop out” or any such catastrophe—even when sitting on my living room couch with no one around except the baby. Or toddler, sorry @AstroChuck! For a woman to “expose herself” while breastfeeding in public, she’d have to be trying to get that boob out there for the world to see. It’s very easy to get the baby latched on without exposing anything, and takes very little practice to do correctly. Once the baby is nursing, his or her head blocks any kind of view.

Once, my husband’s best friend unexpectedly stopped by our house and walked into the living room while I was nursing a baby. My husband tried to steer his friend over to a seat on the couch, but the friend first walked over to see the baby. He said, “Oh, he’s sleeping!” then walked across the room. He had no idea I was breastfeeding, and didn’t pick up on it until my husband and I couldn’t stop laughing. Then, he was embarrased.

I think most men would rather avoid scoping a peek at a nursing mom’s boobs. Aren’t they more likely to look away as soon as they realize what’s going on? Anyway, to answer the original question, I don’t think there’s anything at all wrong with nursing in public. If the mom is comfortable with it, then by all means she should feed her baby whenever and wherever the baby needs to be fed.

We are such prudes in this world. Omg boobies! I can’t imagine that breast exposure happens so often that it’s a real problem. And it’s a boob! I don’t know anyone who has been harmed by seeing a breast. For crap’s sake, if you’re not staring at someone, then you’re not going to catch the slightest slip, anyway. MYOB.

There is no shame in nature.

I’ve seen men with big boobs, if women have to cove up, the men should also.

I don’t care if women do or don’t. I just know if it were me personally, my sense of propriety would require that I seek a relatively secluded spot to bare my breast for any purpose.

I once squirted a woman with my breastmilk. She was sitting next to me, at a tattoo parlor (my husband was getting a tattoo for our son) and I was feeding my son for the first time in public. I was fumbling a lot, nervous…but, breastfeeding is protected in the city of Philadelphia..so no one can give you any crap about it.
So, he was suckling away and pulled away quickly..anyone that breastfeeds knows it just keeps coming lol. So it shot out towards the woman next to me.
She started cracking up, and said it was quite alright. Thankfully she had a sense of humor!

@casheroo: which parlor? Maybe one near 4th & South?

@daloon whoa. yes, exactly on 4th & south. did you know the squirtee or something?!

@casheroo Nope, dunno the squirtee, but I used to hang out down there a lot. Not for tattoos, and not for cheese steaks. Believe it or not, there were actually some traditional cultured activities going on there.

@daloon Tattooing is a cultured activity. I’m still blown away that you knew exactly what place…although, that’s a pretty generic spot in Philly.

@casheroo, but not a traditional cultured activity. A few decades ago, it was considered pretty low-class.

Squirtee?

@daloon Squirtee: A person or any sentient being that has visited a tatoo parlor and been attacked with a breast loaded with beams of human breast milk. You know, the victim of a Squirter.

I take issue with the fact that a woman’s body is so goddamned sexualized in our “modern” society that a bare breast = SWEET SINFUL LASCIVIOUS SEXUALITY!! regardless of its intended function as a natural food source for babies.

I don’t think it’s “okay” if it’s covered. I somewhat resent the idea that its proper to do so. I think it’s more a hinderance than a help to the general health of our social development regarding the propriety of a woman’s body if we keep addressing it under a guise of “decency.”

/soapbox off

@oratio: Thank you. No, I didn’t know the squirtee. Nor do I know the squirter. Nor have I been a squirtee or squirter. I just know that there are an awful lot of tattoo parlors around 4th and South. They’re also all over the city, but if you’re coming from the burbs, that’s probably the place that’s most famous.

I was talking to an artist once. He had some amazing tats. He said his tattooer was in another location. FWIW.

It’s legal in my county for women to be topless.
Not that any of them seem to take advantage of it..grumble…grumble…

Fact from fiction, truth from diction. Unless you cover the kid’s head under a blanker or shawl etc, there will be some exposure. As much as many people are not comfortable with public breastfeeding many are still afraid that somehow the little nipper might break the lip lock and expose a nipple nipples are evil in American society and we can’t have that (if the sarcasm is exceptionally dry that happens)