I blame my husband's travel schedule, the cold weather, and PMS for the fact that I am feeling stabby enough to respond to the ignorance and dumbassery that I see in those comments.
Yesterday, a local news station shared a story on their Facebook page about a mom who was in a restaurant with her family when she was asked to leave her table and breastfeed her baby in the bathroom. The right to breastfeed is protected by law here in New York, and the restaurant manager issued a public apology to the mother in question.
As these things often do, the Facebook post blew up with hundreds of comments. Many were supportive, promoting a woman's right to feed her child no matter where she was. Some, however, were downright nasty. Most of the awful comments came from other women, who may or may not be mothers themselves, though the men chimed in with a few gems, as well.
We've all seen the arguments that women should use nursing covers in public, or "simply" pump a bottle of milk to bring with them if they are going out in public. While these make me roll my eyes, I'm used to them. However, some of the comments that I read made me feel shocked, angry, and somewhat defensive.
I support breastfeeding. I love breastfeeding. I've breastfed four babies and am still nursing Muffin at ten months old. I kind of fight the urge to give breastfeeding moms a high five when I see them nursing in public (but I do usually smile at them in a hopefully non-creepy way.) I resisted the urge to reply to every ignorant comment that I saw on that Facebook post. Instead, I saved my sarcasm for my blog.
But There are Children Around!
Some of the commenters seemed truly horrified that their children might be witness to breastfeeding. You would think that they were concerned about their special snowflakes watching a woman dancing on a stripper pole. "I don't want my kid seeing boobs!" Yes, we want to be careful that your child never witness a baby being fed the way nature intended. After all, how will we continue the cycle of ignorance if we allow nursing moms to feed their babies wherever, whenever, and make it seem like a completely normal thing to do?
Moms Who Breastfeed in Public are Just Doing it for Attention
Damn. How did you know? You are so smart. You caught on to our evil plan to have everyone stare and gawk and make us feel uncomfortable. Nursing moms LOVE to be ostracized and told to go feed our babies in a dirty public bathroom. We just choose to start our feedings in restaurant booths and on park benches in order to provide you with the opportunity to give us all of that negative attention. The whole "wanting to feed our baby" thing is just a lie, really. We made it up.
Breastfeeding Spreads Germs. It Shouldn't be Allowed Around Food.
For real? Did you really just say that?
While there are some medications and health conditions where breastfeeding may be contraindicated, a healthy mom and baby do not "spread germs" by breastfeeding. In fact, breastfeeding passes antibodies from mom to baby, which help to protect baby from whatever germs and bacteria you have the nerve to share with the general public. Breastfeeding is incredibly healthy for baby and has many health benefits for mom, too.
As far as breastfeeding around food - you do realize that breast milk IS food, right? It's not some hazardous material that is going to contaminate the food supply in the restaurant. But maybe you should watch out for the woman who is nursing her infant at the table nearest to the salad bar. That shit is going to squirt right into the ranch dressing and you will never know what hit you.
"I brought bottles."
As said by a self-proclaimed Single Dad. Gee, thanks for chiming in.
So, moms - keep nursing. It's horribly flashy, inappropriate, and disgusting, but how else will we piss off the people of the world? That breast milk is powerful stuff!
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