Breastfeeding in Public

[Kerethos]

I've barely ever seen it, and when it happens it happens because the baby needs food and the food is in the boobs. It's natural and the best food for the baby (as long as the mothers milk production works as intended) and I don't see why anyone should be upset about it. It's like getting angry about a dad hugging his children in public.

You're watching a mother give the best food[footnote]Bacteria and anti-bodies from the mother is great for the baby's still developing immune system.[/footnote] available to an infant, that is a good and beautiful thing.

As for pumping, I've never really though about it. But if it needs to be done then it needs to be done. It would be foolish to waste good baby food and if you can take care of that, without it interfering with your work, why not? It's not like it stinks or soils the workplace, does it?

 

[Foolery]

Well, I do love a nice pair of tits.

In all seriousness, why would I even care? It's a woman feeding her child, not an erotic display.

 

[Aesir23]

I don't see anything wrong with it. I would prefer that breastfeeding women have a towel or small blanket to cover themselves for decorum's sake but I have no issue with women breastfeeding in public.

Besides, when a baby is hungry it is hungry at that very moment. It's definitely not going to accept a "please wait until we get home".

 

[laggyteabag]

No problem with it whatsoever. The baby needs to eat, and I would much rather feed it in public than have to travel all the way home with a crying baby.

Also; Da booby is for da feedy. AKA They are there for a reason.

 

[Gretha Unterberg]

Okay, so this seems like an odd one but I was listening to a discussion about breastfeeding in public on the radio and I was quite surprised by the attitudes of some people towards it.

By public, I mean in restaurants, in shopping centres and what have you.

A few questions to start discussion, inspired by some of the answers people gave on the radio regarding the topic:

Does it make you feel uncomfortable when you see a woman breastfeeding her child in a public area? If so, does it always make you uncomfortable or is it okay provided that her breasts are completely covered?

Alternatively, do you just see it as something natural and non-sexual, something women should be free to do whenever and wherever they please?

Do you think that instead of possibly making people uncomfortable, women should have to go into private areas, such as bathrooms, to breastfeed?

Do you think that women who do so are exhibitionists? Should they just always have bottles prepared to feed their child when out and about?

You don't have to stick to these questions, I'm just interested in people's opinions on the subject in general.

My, if people are uncomfortable with seeing an baby having lunch then I have bad news for them.

There are situations where I can be disturbing,but those are situations where you shouldn't bring a baby along in the first place. Because There a LOT more unpleasent things they can ,and will, do.

 

[Iwata]

I have a baby daughter. Breast-feeding, in public or otherwise, isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. When my daughter (who doesn't like bottled milk) is hungry and we go out, my wife breast feeds her because the alternative is to let her starve. My wife does cover her breast and our daughter while doing it, though.

That said, I've heard a lot about this topic, but I've never actually encountered anyone bothered by it, so I think it may be more of a general misconception than an actual issue.

 

[SacremPyrobolum]

If it shuts up your spawn, thats fine, as long as that spawn isn't nine years old or something. That's kind of weird.

And the problem there isn't that she's breast-feeding, it's that she just slapped you with her boobs.

Yeah sure, "problem".

 

[Vault101]

Do you think that women who do so are exhibitionists? Should they just always have bottles prepared to feed their child when out and about?
.

.....WUT???

so seriously wut?

I'm pretty sure a mother with a newborn baby does not give a fuck,

 

[Happiness Assassin]

I fully support a woman's right to whip a tit out... for the babies of course... and in other cases.

I feel I should add more to this to not sound creepy. Um... food is good and babies need it more than most. Yeah, that'll do.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Breastfeeding? Who the heck has a problem with that? "How dare you display your evolutionary biology in front of me!"

 

[Mezahmay]

Breastfeeding? Who the heck has a problem with that? "How dare you display your evolutionary biology in front of me!"

The issue is not with "evolutionary biology". The issue some have is perceived public indecency based on one's individual beliefs and/or their society's view of breasts in general. For one to argue from a moral stance that a mother should not feed their newborn child is just flat out wrong. To argue they shouldn't breastfeed around other people since not everyone wants to see bare breast is another thing.

 

[thundra]

Breastfeeding? Who the heck has a problem with that? "How dare you display your evolutionary biology in front of me!"

mysogonistic cunts have a problem with it. Just like conservatives have problem with minorities civil rights.

 

[Agayek]

I don't see any issue with public breastfeeding at all. It's unusual, so it might garner a second glance, but that's about the entirety of my reaction to it. There's nothing wrong with it.

If I were a woman, I couldn't imagine ever actually doing it, but I don't see anything wrong with someone else doing so.

 

[Wintermute_v1legacy]

I've seen it happen a few times. In restaurants, parks, supermarkets, etc. I don't think my day was changed in any meaningful way. If I were to guess, I'd say the vast majority of people don't mind it either.

 

[Major_Tom]

I don't understand why women can't feed their babies in public, but men can parade around shirtless, proudly displaying their useless nipples.

 

[Reasonable Atheist]

I don't understand why women can't feed their babies in public, but men can parade around shirtless, proudly displaying their useless nipples.

Women CAN feed their babies in public. Hell in Vancouver you can walk around topless if you want too, so says the law.

 

[cathou]

Does it make you feel uncomfortable when you see a woman breastfeeding her child in a public area? If so, does it always make you uncomfortable or is it okay provided that her breasts are completely covered?

Alternatively, do you just see it as something natural and non-sexual, something women should be free to do whenever and wherever they please?

I do find it uncomfortable, and it's not the fact that her breasts are out that does it. Rather it's the fact that I don't like children in general, and I don't think that you should be taking children to a public place if they're still young enough that you're breat-feeding them. Babies don't belong in restaurants, they don't belong in shopping centers, they don't belong in movie theaters. Stop bringing them there!

(...)
I don't think that women who do it are exhibitionists, I just think they don't give a fuck. And yes, I'd say that if your child is old enough to use a bottle then carry a damn bottle with you to feed your kid. If your kid isn't old enough to use a bottle it's not old enough to be out in public anyway.

i'll give you a point. even if it's natural, i wouldnt just take out my breast in public to breast feed my daugther. there's a marvelous thing that is called a breast-feeding apron, wich is a cloth that goes around your neck, and it's basically, just an apron that cover you and your baby. but that's my personal choice, and some woman dont like those things, and it's their choice too.

However, first a baby is breast feeded 6 to 12 months long. it's a god damn long time to be locked Inside. i carried my baby around since she's 2 weeks old. 2 weeks locked Inside was more than enough to show me that i would go insane if i dont go out.

second, breast milk and bottled milk are not the same. breast feeding a baby and giving a baby breast milk in a bottle is not the same either. And drinking in a bottle is a lot easier that drinking from a breasts. some baby get lazy when you give them bottle and refuse to the breast after getting use to a bottle. so it's not a good idea for every baby to give a bottle.

beside, here a lot of movie theatre offer baby viewing. once a week (here's it's every friday at 1 pm) they present a movie for parents and baby. the movie is not necessary a kid movie, but the sound is less loud, they put tables for diapers changing and they dont close the lights completly. believe me when i say that it saved my sanity to be able to go there...

 

[cthulhuspawn82]

As many people bring up during the breastfeeding argument, pissing is natural so why don't we do that in public. The reason why you cant pee in public is because men can pee. Only women can breast feed, which lets them fallaciously link it to women's rights/women's choice. If men produced milk and fed babies the same way women do, public breastfeeding could be labeled inappropriate and regulated to private places like bathrooms.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Hmm. The only time it'd be any issue for me is if it was a woman I was attracted to getting her breasts out and feeding her baby. But admittedly, that's my problem, not hers and that's on an immature sexual point, rather than a social one. So socially speaking, no, I see no problem with it whatsoever. It should be widely accepted, and I think a lot of people, myself among them, need a bit of growing up to do on the topic of not just breastfeeding, but nudity in general. Just bearing your flesh to the world should not be seen as sexual by itself, and most certainly not a stigma.

 

[Gamer87]

Hm, that's a tricky one.

Breastfeeding a baby is one of the most natural things you can do.

So is also a lot of other things like urinating or having sex.

All of these have to do with bodily functions and they would all gross me out seeing others do in public.

It's not that it's wrong. If you have to go you have to go, if you are hungry you have to eat, if you are attracted to someone you will want to get intimate with them. It's just that in our society we are not used to seeing such acts in public, they feel private, too intimate. It just feels wrong seeing it. I have no better way of explaining why it's gross to me. EDIT: Also, there's all the bodily fluids.

I think mothers should be allowed to feed their babies in public (and women just being topless is not strange to me, it's not the nipple out in public factor) it just for some strange reason is gross to me and makes me uncomfortable.

Maybe I'm being a prude. Or maybe it's that we humans want to see ourselves as more than primitive carnal creatures with animal needs?