I was in one of my favorite stores at the mall a while back and my 6 1/2 month old (then he was 3 months) was getting really worked up and hungry. I had tried to hold him off a little longer to finish in the store and then I was planning on finding a quiet place to nurse him or go to Nordstrom where they have a great mother and baby area to feed and change the babies. But he wasn’t going to be able to wait. I felt bad so I went to the dressing room and asked nicely if she wouldn’t mind if I used one of the dressing rooms quickly to nurse my son? She was not very receptive. She paused for a long time meanwhile my infant was screaming by this point. She did not look like she was going to say yes so I finally out of frustration told her that was fine, I didn’t have to nurse my son there, but if I did leave to do it elsewhere I had planned on filing suit against the store immediately. She rolled her eyes and pointed to a dressing room. I just think so many people still think of nursing as this dirty thing. Where are we expected to nurse our children in a bathroom stall? Would you eat your meals in a bathroom stall? Ignorance is still so evident when it comes to nursing in public or in general for that matter. The I was in another store at the same mall about two weeks ago and that store was awesome. She even gave me one of the larger stalls because she said no on uses it that often and for me to take my time. She was so polite and respectful of what I was doing. And no I don’t think a women should just whip it out there for everyone to see but there are ways of being discrete about it and not infringing on anyone else. I also try to wear layers so that when I pull one shirt up to nurse the bottom shirt still remains down and covers my stomach and back. So you never see anything but the back of my baby’s head. And all three of my sons that I have nursed have been very small eaters. They maybe nurse a few minutes at a time instead of 20 minutes on each side like a lot of babies. So it would take longer for me to walk to the other end of a mall to find a designated area then to just feed him and be done. And if you weren’t staring right at me you would think he was just asleep wit me holding him. I think it’s only a big deal when someone makes it a big deal. For me it is the easiest most natural thing a woman’s body was meant to do. It is a bonding time between mother and baby and it’s lasting effects are healthy for mom and baby.
I actually went online and there are specific laws for each state protecting nursing moms and babies rights. Check it out. I found it to be very educational.
Have any of you out there had any bad experiences with nursing in public?
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Tags: breast feeding rights, breastfeeding laws, nursing, nursing babies, nursing moms
October 27th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I nursed my older son 18 mos and my younger one for a year. Most of the time I found a discreet place, but that isn’t always possible. Sometimes I got iritated by the fact that I had to “hide” and make everyone else comfortable but me. All in all, most people I encountered were very supportive. I guess all you can do as a mother is do all you can to make your baby happy and educate others when there is an opportunity. I find it is often a generational thing, I’m in my 30’s and found my mom’s generation a lot less informed than people my age, but my grandmother’s generation generally acceptingKeep up your good work.