So my husband and I went to Cracker Barrel for dinner last night. I love going there for the Coca Cola Chocolate cake they have. It's amazing. Anyway, we were almost done eating, working on the cake, when a family came in and sat down at a table near us. It was what looked like a husband and wife with their two daughters and an older man who could have been the guy's Dad.
The one daughter looked to be about 3 and the other one was probably 8 months old. They were a little odd to begin with, asking to sit at a table where they could see their car. Not sure what that was about but whatever. They were also walking around a lot. They didn't seem to want to sit still long enough to even order any food so who knows what was going on there.
As I'm sitting there enjoying my cake, I realized the woman was breastfeeding the younger daughter. No big deal except she wasn't being discreet about it at all. I mean she literally was just sitting at the table with her milk makers out.
I don't have an issue with breastfeeding. I think it's awesome. It wasn't something I was able to do with my daughter but I am planning to try again with Baby #2. I do have a problem with breastfeeding in public.
I don't want to be sitting at dinner watching you breastfeed your kid. I don't really want to be anywhere and watch you breastfeed your kid. I just don't need to see it. They make nursing covers for a reason. There are also bathrooms and cars. Shit, just tuck the kid under your shirt so no one can see your boobs!
The worst part was that the Dad's Dad was watching! And the Dad was all like, "That's the baby's formula!" and he was laughing about it. Um...dude...your Dad is looking at your wife's boobs. It's not funny, it's weird. I would be very uncomfortable if my husband's Dad watched me breastfeed my kid. Shit I'd be uncomfortable if my own Dad watched. No one needs to see it!
Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm not saying you shouldn't be able to breastfeed in public. I'm just saying have some common courtesy for the people around you. You wouldn't appreciate someone smoking right next to you and your kid so don't think that they would appreciate you breastfeeding right next to them.
I just feel like that saying 'there's a time and a place for everying' applies ten fold here. Am I wrong?
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On another note, I've finally joined the Instagram train. My user name is vmiller0918. Hopefully I haven't offended you all and you follow me! I will follow back once I figure out how to use the app!
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Blogger changed me to a no-reply again. Should be fixed now. Does anyone else have this issue? Blogger changes me back to no-reply every few weeks and it's really annoying.
The one daughter looked to be about 3 and the other one was probably 8 months old. They were a little odd to begin with, asking to sit at a table where they could see their car. Not sure what that was about but whatever. They were also walking around a lot. They didn't seem to want to sit still long enough to even order any food so who knows what was going on there.
As I'm sitting there enjoying my cake, I realized the woman was breastfeeding the younger daughter. No big deal except she wasn't being discreet about it at all. I mean she literally was just sitting at the table with her milk makers out.
I don't have an issue with breastfeeding. I think it's awesome. It wasn't something I was able to do with my daughter but I am planning to try again with Baby #2. I do have a problem with breastfeeding in public.
I don't want to be sitting at dinner watching you breastfeed your kid. I don't really want to be anywhere and watch you breastfeed your kid. I just don't need to see it. They make nursing covers for a reason. There are also bathrooms and cars. Shit, just tuck the kid under your shirt so no one can see your boobs!
The worst part was that the Dad's Dad was watching! And the Dad was all like, "That's the baby's formula!" and he was laughing about it. Um...dude...your Dad is looking at your wife's boobs. It's not funny, it's weird. I would be very uncomfortable if my husband's Dad watched me breastfeed my kid. Shit I'd be uncomfortable if my own Dad watched. No one needs to see it!
Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm not saying you shouldn't be able to breastfeed in public. I'm just saying have some common courtesy for the people around you. You wouldn't appreciate someone smoking right next to you and your kid so don't think that they would appreciate you breastfeeding right next to them.
I just feel like that saying 'there's a time and a place for everying' applies ten fold here. Am I wrong?
~
On another note, I've finally joined the Instagram train. My user name is vmiller0918. Hopefully I haven't offended you all and you follow me! I will follow back once I figure out how to use the app!
~
Blogger changed me to a no-reply again. Should be fixed now. Does anyone else have this issue? Blogger changes me back to no-reply every few weeks and it's really annoying.
I wish I had the guts to do this in public, but I'm weird about being naked like that. I do wish more women did, so I wouldn't feel this way. When the baby gets older it's a lot harder to cover them up with a nursing cover. My daughter hated hers by like 4 months. Once she was able to move around and started noticing us, she really hated it and would freak out if I tried to use it.
ReplyDeleteI nursed both my girls. I'm a HUGE supporter of breastfeeding and I agree. There are ways to nurse that others don't have to see your boobs. I never hesitated to feed my girls while I was out, but I always had a receiving blanket or a nursing shawl. During the hot summmers I would wear a baggy top and just slide the babies head under. Yeah there were legs sticking out, and yeah I am sure people knew what I was doing, but I could still be decent about it. I am against nursing in a bathroom because bathrooms are germy places. We wouldn't eat in a bathroom so babies shouldn't either. However there are tons of places that you can nurse descretely. Even a corner away from people turned to a angle would work.
ReplyDeleteI'm torn on the subject. I'm a huge supporter of breastfeeding and would have loved to have bf Taylor longer than 8 months. Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable popping a boob out in public, but I don't get offended when I see it either. But that is me personally. It's a touchy subject and I get both sides of it.
ReplyDeleteI nurse in public with a cover but I'm a lot less careful than I used to be. I figure if someone is staring at me and sees something for the split second my kid hits the cover off of me (which she will because she hates being covered) or when she disconnects because she is done, that's their problem for staring. However, there is no reason to go all shirtless (like the episode of the office where Jan is breastfeeding with literally no shirt on). If the baby is eating under a shirt or through the gap of a nursing top, usually the baby's head is covering up what little skin would be visible anyway. I don't feel I need to hide any more than a woman with a bottle would need to.
ReplyDeleteBy the same token there are places I wouldn't breast feed. There was a athlete or minor celebrity who got flack for posting a picture of a woman breast feeding sitting in the middle of a store, like on the floor, with a "what the heck" sort of comment. I figure if I wouldn't feed my kid a bottle or a sandwich in the middle of the floor, I shouldn't be breast feeding there either.
My younger daughter hated the cover so much from the beginning that she would shriek if I tried to feed her under it, and I've been in a lot of situations (on planes and in play groups) where she would have to eat in a "public" situation. To me it is pretty normal. I do think it is polite to be careful, but you don't control the situation, so if any thing I think the only weird part was that the granddad was sitting there watching and making awkward comments. To me that is a little strange.
Wow you are certainly opening a can of worms here. lol I can see both sides. I have read lots of posts from both sides and I breast fed my second child for 3 months and wasn't able to with my first.
ReplyDeleteI can see your point, your out to dinner and all of a sudden your at the titty bar. Usually even if people aren't using a cover, the baby is usually hiding most of the nipple and breast. so I don't have a prob with that, be discreet when taking baby on and off and I think it should be ok. Have some modesty. As for feeding baby in a bathroom I am not for that. would you like to eat your dinner in a public bathroom? Or would you even like to be in a public bathroom longer then you need to to do your business, let along to feed a baby? I have heard some mothers make the point about the nursing covers being too hot for them and baby, and "how would you like to eat with a blanket over your head?" Well I do see their point, but there are light covers and i think that covering the baby helps with distraction. Anyway, I just think it depends on how discreet it is and where it is happening that makes all the difference.
I generally try to avoid nursing in public, but that is because my kid flips the nursing covers off and exposes me for all to see. If I know I am going to have to do it, I wear a looser shirt and a cardigan so my sweater covers my exposed side, and very little boob is exposed :) There are ways to do it without showing everything off. I'd nurse my kid in the car before nursing him in the bathroom though.
ReplyDeleteI was lucky that as long as AJ was distracted, he really didn't need me to nurse him I. Public except when he was a teeny baby. When I did I was discreet. But nursing in the bathroom was a hard limit for me. It grossed me out doing that there!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you! I definitely think women should be able to breast feed wherever they need to, but with a cover! It's just the polite thing to do.
ReplyDelete