The minion, the hero, and I were at Earthfare today and the minion got hungry. Naturally, I put her up to my breast and fed her while still walking around directing the hero what to pick up. There was a woman with her four-year-old daughter there who stopped me and thanked me for breastfeeding in public and not covering up. She said she felt it was important for children to see women breastfeeding so that they don’t think of it as weird or something to be done only at the mother’s convenience when they have their own children. I tend to agree with her.
We do need to educate children about breastfeeding, but don’t sign them up for a lactation class just yet. I think it should be a more passive education. They just need to grow up seeing mothers breastfeeding. They need to read books where moms in the background are breastfeeding. They need to play with dolls that don’t all come with a little plastic bottle to feed them with. They need to see the international breastfeeding symbol in public places. Breastfeeding needs to be normal. Breastfeeding is normal, it just needs to be seen as normal.
It was surprisingly empowering and encouraging for the woman in Earthfare to speak up and congratulate me. I have often heard horror stories about people approaching them about nursing in public with negative comments. I have been lucky that no one has done that to me.
I just wanted to put this out there as a small antidote to all the horror stories and on the off-chance you see someone nursing in public, thank them for being strong and educating the world and most importantly future parents.
Fortress of Crunchitude 