Breastfeeding in public turns negative by offended onlookers

I have come to feel quite comfortable nursing in public after a year and a half of nursing in public. Of course, we still get looks and some people who are close to us still don't really approve of it. But it's the reactions of those close to us that makes me chuckle a bit. What some don't understand is that the bigger fuss you make about my nursing, the more people will take notice!

I could take my almost fussy baby, lift up my shirt, unhook the nursing tank and place her where she needs to be in less than a minute AND unbeknownst to most people around me.  However, when my mother (old school and not really used to breastfeeding - not sure how she isn't used to it by now!) is around, she will always still try to get me to cover up or something. Which is better than when we started out I suppose. She always tries to 'help' with the cover, grab a blanket, cover me with her own body so others can't see, she gets quite innovative some days!

This morning at church, we had a bottle for the little one just in case I was singing with the band when she got hungry. Luckily, I was with her when she became hungry so of course I just fed her myself. As I am preparing to feed her up until the point when she started to nurse, my mom went into a tizzy trying to get the words out: "Do you want her bottle?" Stumbling the whole way through the sentence as she tried to spit it out quick enough. I just smirked the whole time, giggled a little, too. After church, we went to brunch at a local diner and, of course, the little one was hungry yet again. So I didn't think twice and just fed her as it should be. Mom at this point said, "Oh I won't even bother!"

This is a common occurrence for us and my husband and I have just come to terms with the fact that not everyone is going to be happy with my nursing the kid(s) in public and well that's just going to have to be fine! When the baby is hungry, the baby gets to eat (how she was meant to eat no less!). We're stuck in our ways at this point and it would take a lot to deter us!

But it really got me thinking today about how attitudes such as hers could be detrimental to a nursing relationship. We've all heard the debate about nursing in public or nursing in the bathroom... No, I wouldn't eat my salad in the bathroom so of course I wouldn't feed the little one there! I have a hard enough time placing a blanket on the bathroom floor to change her if there's no changing table! Gross! But what about these attitudes? What does that really say about breastfeeding?

Asking a woman to cover up while breastfeeding is the same as saying 

breastfeeding is too sexual of a sight to be seen in public. 

It means the act of nursing is disgusting. It means 

"Please put those away so you don't offend anyone." 

It's opinions like these that make mothers not want to breastfeed for long periods of time, or at all in some cases! How is that conducive to a healthy society? Oh wait, health doesn't matter because someone is too busy being offended!

For those of you who may be offended by seeing a mother nurse in public, let me ask you a question: How often were you 'flashed?' How much breast have you actually seen from a nursing mother? In our area, very few mothers nurse in public. And those who do do so discreetly, you see nothing besides mama's shirt and baby's head. I don't nurse in public to expose myself or to make others uncomfortable. I nurse in public because my baby is hungry. And if I don't get out of the house, I'm going to go crazy! I have a toddler at home and an infant and when we get stuck in the house, it's not pretty! But if I was unable to feed the infant out in public, we *would* be stuck at home.

So... unless you (you who is offended by nursing in public) would care to deal with a terrible two's toddler who is stuck in the house while I nurse my infant, then we can talk. And together (the four of us) can share in our misery of being stuck in the house with a terrible two toddler and an infant who could care less as long as she gets to eat when she needs and wants to eat. All because people get offended by a baby's head attached to her mother's breast, which is where it belongs IN. THE. FIRST. PLACE!

Nursing is not disgusting... It's beautiful... It's not sexual... It's natural... It's how babies were meant to be fed for at least the first two years of life and at that point it should be a matter of weaning for the baby to decide, not society! Society needs to get a grip on being offended.