I’m mostly taking the week off this Christmas break to be with family, continue to get the house under control (this will be a theme for the next 6 months, I’m afraid), and do some behind-the-scenes stuff at KS, but I wanted to share a fun article I wrote for Babycenter.com.
It went up last week just before Christmas, and it didn’t quite seem like the appropriate thing to write a post about the day before Christmas Eve.
But for some light-hearted reading the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I’m happy to send you over to read the 10 Insane Things I’ve Done While Breastfeeding. Some of you may have gabbed with me about this already via Facebook and Twitter last week, but in case you don’t follow over there (or were busy with Christmas prep and not online), I wanted to offer equal opportunity laughing.
As usual when I get a little natural/crunchy/earthy or whatever on Babycenter, the comments have some criticism, but it’s all in the name of good exposure for breastfeeding and making parenting work for mom and baby, no matter what. Did I just say exposure? Pun intended. 
See what you think of my 10 places and feel free to add your own in the comments right HERE. If you’re so inclined to share on Facebook or Twitter, that helps me and maybe could encourage a young mom not to feel that she has to go to the bathroom to feed her baby – I feel great that a few in the comments took that inspiration away from my fun article!
Target Nurse-In
It’s so fitting that I saw this come in via Twitter just as I sat down to share my nursing in public post with you all: today at 10 a.m., folks are nursing on purpose in Target stores across the country to protest Target’s treatment of one mom who was modestly nursing her baby in an out of the way area. Read the story HERE and let me know what you think.
Personally, I’m pondering taking off in 15 minutes to nurse in Target! I’ll post a picture later on if I make it there. I follow @BestforBabes on Twitter, a good place to keep up on the story.
How to Spend Your Christmas Money
If you’ve got a little fun money to spend, and especially if your significant other will give you some free time to take an online class, of course I highly recommend the GNOWFGLINS eCourses. I’m a guest lecturer on a couple topics, and you’ll love the personal attention in the forums.
Right now is the time to hop in, too, because you can get up to 5 free thank you videos with your purchase through 1/12! There are some great ones in the archives, including a few from my house, a sourdough pie crust, and no-sew reusable lunch bags, to name some of my favs. I’m happy to answer any questions you have about the courses!
Also, Lisa Byrne is offering an unprecedented 2-for-1 on her course, Designed for Wellness. You can read all about it and others women’s good experiences HERE or see my note from last week HERE. Enjoy!
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You so totally rock! And are my hero. Here I was embarrassed to nurse (discreetly, under a nursing cover, with a tank top on underneath my sweatshirt so no one could see my side belly flab) at a “family-friendly” restaurant (in the corner) where people stared at me and actually left their table to complain when they figured out what I was doing. I was mortified and ashamed. I even considered going to the bathroom to nurse. But now I will never consider such a thing again! Thank you!
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Claire Reply:
December 28th, 2011 at 8:38 pm
Wildflower, I’m so sorry those people treated you that way. I just can’t understand why people feel that nursing is something to complain about. They wouldn’t say a thing about teenagers in a restaurant dressed in skimpy clothes, but they complain about a mother feeding her baby, as if it’s something obscene. Ridiculous.
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You rock Katie! I am still breastfeeding my almost 2 year old but am not a confident breastfeeder. I don’t like doing it in public but am pregnant with #2 and so want to be more confident. I have a Moby which I used almost daily but would like something a little quicker to throw on when out shopping. I will look into some different options. Thanks for this great booster.
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I’m very pro-breastfeeding, but if she was sitting in the middle of the floor like that I would have told her to move too.
This isn’t a breastfeeding issue. If she was sitting in the middle of the floor bottle feeding her infant she still would have been obstructing traffic.
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What bothered me most in the Target response to the issue was when they referred to public breastfeeding as “flaunting” it. I have a hard time grasping the connection to giving your baby the best nutritional start in life to flaunting yourself. If a flash happens here or there, so be it. People shouldn’t be staring at you anyways. It is stories like this that make we wonder if the rise of breastfeeding in recent years will help us avoid conflicts in the future.
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Disclaimer: no one would call me “crunchy mama”. My son, who is adopted, was a bottle baby. I like to think that I would have breastfed into toddlerhood if I had had a biological child, but who knows. That aside, when I read about this type of harassment of nursing mothers in this day and age, it infuriates me. Personally, I don’t think sitting on the floor in the middle of Target was the best place to nurse, nor do I think it would be the best place to give a baby a bottle. But feeding a hungry baby the way nature intended is not indecent and it’s not flaunting anything, and it wouldn’t be even if she did expose herself, which she clearly didn’t. Furthermore, Target does not have the authority to supercede the law of the land in the name of being “family-friendly” (which is ridiculous anyway, since breastfeeding is perfectly family-friendly, as opposed to violent video games and skimpy clothing that retailers have no qualms about carrying. I’m very glad that this woman took the time to get her story out there, and I hope it makes retailers think twice about how they handle these issues.
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Claire Reply:
December 28th, 2011 at 8:42 pm
I also wanted to mention that I read some of the comments on one of the links you posted (I can’t remember which one), and one woman, a nursing mother, said that breastfeeding should be done in private because even though it’s natural, so is going to the bathroom. As if nursing and elimination are comparable. There are some really warped thought processes when it comes to this issue.
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sa'ada Reply:
December 31st, 2011 at 1:29 am
how is that a warped thought process? in both instances, private body parts are used for bodily necessities. but only in one instance is it considered ok for others to see that private body part while it is being used.
how are nursing and elimination not comparable? they are in fact only the beginning and end of the same process. and nursing does release bodily fluids. i’ve sprayed milk while nursing and my baby has projectile vomited while nursing.
i am probably the one who made the previous comment. so just to clarify, i don’t think nursing needs to be done IN private, but it needs to be done privateLY. i’ve nursed for 10 of the past 13 years so i’ve done my fair share of nursing in public. but always completely covered.
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Claire Reply:
December 31st, 2011 at 6:09 am
Eating is something that is socially acceptable to do in public. Elimination is not socially acceptable in public. That’s the difference. A baby can projectile vomit after drinking a bottle too. This can even happen 1/2 hour after a feeding. It is unrealistic to keep babies sequestered during and after feedings. If I were nursing in public, I would probably prefer to be covered, as the woman in this situation was. But even if part of her breast was exposed (giving nourishment to her baby, which is not a sexual act), I find this much less immodest than the provocative way many people in our mainstream society dress, and no one bats an eyelash.
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sa'ada Reply:
December 31st, 2011 at 6:45 am
eating is socially acceptable to do in public unless it involves nudity, uncovering otherwise private parts. i’m not saying babies should be sequestered; i’m saying private parts should be covered in public. whether one is making a fashion statement or feeding their children.
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Claire Reply:
December 31st, 2011 at 7:41 am
No, you didn’t say that babies should be sequestered, but you said that things that occur during eating (projectile vomiting, etc) should be kept private. The only way to do that would be to sequester them. Nudity making a fashions statement is intended to be sexually provocative. Nudity to feed a baby is coming from an entirely different place, and is not comparable. Like I said, I personally would choose to cover up, and the woman in this story did too. But it’s still not the same thing. Elimination in public would be socially unacceptable even if the person did it completely covered. It is not comparable to nursing, which is appropriate to do in public while covered (and I personally wouldn’t have a problem with it even if the woman wasn’t covered).
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sa'ada Reply:
December 31st, 2011 at 8:06 am
oops, sorry, i certainly didn’t mean that. i don’t think that projectile vomiting should be kept private and i don’t even know how that could be enforced. i was just drawing a parallel to elimination, the gross bodily fluids.
you think that nudity while nursing is ok and not sexually provocative. i don’t think there is a difference. are vaginas ok to see while someone is eliminating but not while they are engaged in a sex act? breasts are sexual. ask most men. and for that fact, most women.
elimination in public, actually is socially acceptable. that’s what diapers are for after all. but everything is covered up when a person wearing a diaper eliminates. and no one objects.
i think we nursing mothers should have as much respect for our fellow adults and other human beings as we have for the nourishment needs of our babies. i’m not saying to hide, but, please, cover up.
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Claire Reply:
December 31st, 2011 at 8:35 am
Well, you don’t have to ask me twice, because I personally would have no desire to nurse without covering up. I’m a very private person and I don’t even like to brush my teeth in front of my husband. But I wouldn’t have a problem with someone else nursing without a cover. I would, however, have a problem with someone eliminating in public. I understand that there are some people who have no control over it and can’t be expected to stay home 24/7, and need to wear a diaper or pad in case there is an accident in public. That’s not their fault.
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Katie Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 10:48 pm
Claire and Sa’ada,
Katie
I’m just catching up on comments and missed this whole conversation, but basically, to officially chime in: I think you’re both right. I lean toward covering up as much as possible, but if a glimpse of breast happens, I don’t think folks should bother about it (folks shouldn’t be staring in the first place!). So that’s all…
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Katie, you make my heart smile.
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I’m all for breastfeeding in public, but I don’t think it’s necessary to make it a political issue – like going to Target on purpose just to nurse your baby to prove a point. If it’s necessary to do it in public, then just do it discretely and be as private as possible. Breasts are a sex symbol in this country, so please don’t ignore this as an issue. I am wholeheartedly for breastfeeding my infants (and did!), but let’s not be niave to how brazen this act is done many times in public without regard to covering and being discrete.
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Well, this woman was more than adequately covered, and was harassed by Target staff and management. It’s too bad that it has to be a political issue, but apparently that’s what it’s going to take to change the attitudes of people who accuse someone of “flaunting it” just because she’s nursing a hungry baby.
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I feel fortunate to have experienced almost zero harassment when I was nursing my baby (2005-6). The worst I ever got were a few brief shocked or disgusted looking glances, and those only happened when I went to suburbia; here in the city, there was no trouble.
Oddly enough, in Target I once asked to use a fitting room to nurse, and they told me, “They’re only for trying on clothes.” So I just nursed him in the sling while continuing to shop. When he was a toddler too big to lie down in the sling, I found comfort and privacy in the pet aisle where I would pull out a large dog bed to sit on.
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