Wednesday
May182011
Strange and Disturbing Breastfeeding News of the Week
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Another week, another round of disturbing stories about breastfeeding in the news.
Perhaps we need a beer garden nurse-in? ;)
Image credit: M J M on flickr
At Bad Moms Club, I wrote about Child Protective Services being called to Mariah Carey's hospital room because she was drinking and breastfeeding. Her partner was able to intervene and CPS left, but after learning a lot more about how easily and willingly CPS takes children away, I worry that similar calls about a non-famous mother could have much more dire consequences. Read more: Cheers Mariah! Bad Moms, Breastfeeding and Alcohol.
- In Atlanta, babies 2 years and older are banned from breastfeeding in public. At the Care2 Causes blog, Robin Marty asks if this type of discrimination is just a way to keep women in the home. Read more: Are Breastfeeding Bans Just A Way To Keep Women in the Home?
Perhaps we need a beer garden nurse-in? ;)
Image credit: M J M on flickr
Reader Comments (21)
Grrrr, this makes me feel like nursing my two year old in public in Atlanta while drinking a forty.
I noticed a real change in attitude towards breastfeeding (here in Ottawa) after my daughter hit one. Before that, it was all "good for you" (but a lot of subtle messaging about how I shouldn't feel bad to switch to formula). After that, it was "don't you know that breastmilk loses all nutritional value after the age of one" says our pediatrician.
The easy comeback was that WHO says to nurse until two. But after two? I've concluded that only a really determined mama and baby can make that work in this culture. I'm just lucky that my husband is supportive and it isn't illegal here (yet).
im more disturbed by the second story. how horrible. what about the fact that breasfeeding is NOT considered nudity anywhere in the world???? it makes absolutely no sense.
Mary:
Health Canada and the WHO say to nurse until 2 years old or as long as both mom and child want to. Two years is what they see as the recommended minimum, not the recommended maximum.
Personally, I found that my kids didn't nurse as often anymore when they were 2 years or older, so it was rare for me to nurse them in public. It was mostly a bedtime/naptime thing at that point.
The Atlanta thing is beyond ridiculous...but I don't get it. Do they have a large amount of babies over two nursing in public?
Not that I have any problem with that, but it's certainly not something you see every day. So why the hell would they make a law about it? So strange...
A beer garden nurse-in would be so much fun! My daughter just turned 2 and I still breastfeed her in public occasionally. With regards to the Atlanta law I'd like to know 1) Were there a lot of complaints about this, or (more likely) one or two prude people with connections to make this happen; and 2) How would they prove it? If someone made a complaint against me, I would just say the accuser was wrong, I was just rocking my baby. My word against theirs.
The law near Atlanta makes me want to drive up there and nurse my almost 3 year old! It's only about 5 hours away from here. I totally nursed my 8 month old at dinner the other night while sipping my wine too. Nobody even batted an eye. That I saw anyway!
I think the law was part of a larger law on public nudity. I haven't read the comments from the legislators, but I have a feeling from one comment I saw in a newspaper that they felt they were just setting an age to prevent moms being unduly accused. That is, it wasn't meant to discriminate against older nursers as far as I can tell. They just can't fathom it and figured 2 was generous... At least, that's what I think when I'm feeling optimistic :P
Wow! I believe it. I have seen a lot crazy things since I moved from Germany to the US in 1995. An Austrian friend of mine got in trouble with the neighbors because she let her infant run around the backyard in the nude. They threatened her with calling the police for indecent exposure...What the heck is wrong with people?
My wife breastfeeds, and we sometimes have a beer or two. It's okay as long as you take the guidelines you mentioned into account. As well, it's a great way for us to wind down after a crazy day with the little one.
As for the ban in Atlanta, I agree that it's an attempt to oppress breast-feeding moms. Can't deal with a 3-year old on the boob? Look away! Don't legislate a vital part of child-rearing.
A lot of people just don't want women breastfeeding in public at all, no matter the age of the child. The whole thing is an effort to just keep women in the home to keep them from feeling uncomfortable about how seeing a breast makes them feel. Breasts are udders, and our society has sexualized them to the point that they can't handle seeing one at all unless they are aroused. Forcing women to hide while nursing their babies is just another way of chaining them up in the home or in the kitchen...you can't leave the house...or your hot car...and if you do, you have to hide in the bathroom or dressing room or wherever. You can't be a part of the day-to-day, and that leads to postpartum depression...trust me, I know. I felt tied down because I didn't feel like I had the freedom to go anywhere or do anything because I had a nursing baby with me who tore the blanket off of him and kicked around and would keep pulling away from the breast, leaving me exposed to the room. :( Mamas need support, not judgment.
Okay, the one about nursing in Atlanta infuriates me. I was nursed until I was 2 1/2, but by then, nursing was more of a bedtime/nap time thing, so there never was an issue about nursing in public. But still. I'm afraid this law will devolve into a nursing in public ban period. Grrrr....
I'm still nursing my 4-year-old and would love to shock them in GA and nurse in public there :) He hasn't asked me to nurse him in public in a long time, he is too busy exploring the world, and only nursing at home to go to sleep or sometimes when we cuddle on the sofa or when he is sick, but I would nurse him in public out of protest.
This is such an uneducated move by them. What we need is seeing more moms nurse in public so more moms would feel comfortable to nurse longer! This would make such a big impact on health care costs -- and that would benefit everyone!
That makes a little more sense that they wanted to exclude breastfeeding an infant from the public indecency laws. But, they didn't need to put a maximum age on it to do so.
Breasfeeding bans... the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life. I don't care either way if a mom chooses to breastfeed or not, bottle feed her breast milk, or formula feed, and I breastfed in public, (I always sort of tried to cover up, tough, for myself) in restaurants, airplanes, etc. I certainly don't have an issue with anyone doing it in public, no matter how old her baby. Don't we have bigger issues to worry about?
Oh, I definitely agree. I was just pointing out that they may not have been trying to be malicious. Maybe. I really don't know. From the comments from the legislators that I saw, it seemed like they weren't even entirely aware of the breastfeeding portion of the law. There reactions were really generic, like 'we're just trying to protect people from nudity' with a confused look on their face when asked about breastfeeding.
In fact, just because it wasn't necessarily done "on purpose" to keep moms in the homes (or cars or whatever) doesn't mean that it isn't the mindset. It's definitely a part of our culture to want to hide certain groups of people! Oh, the unpleasantness!
One other thing-I personally have no problem with any public nudity. Literally waving your fancy bits in someone else's face is where my line is. Having them out to air out really doesn't concern me at all. And yes, my kid is one of those that randomly strips down at the community park 'to feel the sand on [his] butt'.
Love your points, Sarah :)
Mary, we are in the same boat.
My son is 22 months and is bigger than many 3 year olds. He's also very open in his breastfeeding methods (he seems to always manage to get both my breasts out of my shirt). And is at the breast more often and most kids who are a lot younger. He's fine without it at daycare, but when I am around, he helps himself freely and frequently.
I have started to be sent the message that he doesn't need it anymore.
And I am not looking forward to the post 2 year period, when the WHO won't cover me entirely (Annie, I know it does but two year still seems to be ours psycho-social maximum. not essential seems to mean you have to stop. The Atlanta law is a case in point). Yet I insist on child lead weaning.
We'll see how it goes...
In any case, I feel grateful I'm not in Atlanta.
I just wanted to say thank you to this blog and all the commenters on it. My son is 8 months old, still breastfeeding, and I plan to continue as long as we are both interested in doing it. I sometimes get questions from people about "How long are you going to do that for?" and I feel like this site, among others, has helped me have good information to give to people and ways to talk about it without having to tell them they are being jerks OR without betraying how I feel about nursing my little boy.
Which is to say: I almost always say, "It's funny, because if you don't nurse, that's wrong, but if you do and it's in certain places, that's wrong, or if you do it for "too long", that's wrong. It's almost like you can't win." and that has either worked, or at least gotten people to not continue to suggest that there's something wrong with nursing a toddler.
So, first things first: love the blog! I've been lurking for a bit and I think this is my first comment.
I agree with all that breastfeeding bans are ridiculous, and should be... banned?
In other strange and disturbing breastfeeding news, I was wondering if you've seen the Margaret Wente piece in Saturday's Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/the-tyranny-of-mothers-milk/article2030188/
Friends have asked me for my thoughts on the CBC's White Coat, Black Art show on the same theme, and my response is usually this: I don't think that we've "gone too far" in promoting breastfeeding, but I do think that agressive-promotion tactic by itself misses the mark (and very well can induce those guilty feelings). Now that we've gotten all the public health people onside with promotion, we need to give them (and society in general) the tools they need to actually SUPPORT breastfeeding women.
So often, the comment I hear from women who initiated breastfeeding (whether they kept with it or not) is "nobody told me it could be this hard! I thought it was supposed to come naturally to me." Letting a woman think that something should come naturally to her, and if it doesn't, letting her think that she's a failure... is a failure for all of us, I think.
Caroline:
I did see the Margaret Wente article. I won't be commenting directly on her article due to sensationalism and plagiarism. However, I did listen to White Coat, Black Art and have a post on that show going up on another website very soon. I'll post the link here when it goes up.
Even the holy Al Qur'an urges breastfeeding until at least 2 yrs of age.