by Amanda MacMinn
I am continuously amazed at the concept that a women should not be able
to nourish her child anywhere other than the privacy of her own home.
Thankfully, in New Jersey, the point is moot as we have a law to protect
a mother's right to nurse in public. (As do most other states.)
 Every
baby should be afforded the basic human right of being fed when hungry.
Babies, especially small babies may not be able to wait around for mom
to find an "appropriate" secluded corner.
Even if the child is capable of waiting to nurse, one would never subject a bottle feeding mother to
banishment while tending to her child's most basic need.
Why should a mother who has made the commitment to give her baby the milk it was born
for be discriminated against?
The benefits of breastfeeding are almost innumerable.
A mother who breastfeeds is offering her baby immunities, comfort, and a decreased
risk of diseases from ear infections and asthma to leukemia and Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome.
These mothers should be praised, not shunned.
A bathroom is no place to eat a meal, and every mother should be afforded the luxury of leaving her home without being harassed for giving her
baby the gift of breast milk.
Yes, breasts are often looked upon as sexual, and beautiful.
We use them to sell beer, cars, and sitcoms.
But they are for making milk.
Western society is quite unique in it's fascination with breasts and our babies
pay the price, by being denied access to breast milk, or supplemented with formula when out in public.
Regardless of the exaggerated stories you hear, no mother is trying to
expose herself while feeding her child.
And I have faith the male population, that they are not walking around being aroused by exposed
breasts feeding babies, just as male OBGYN's are not aroused by their patients.
Babies don't choose when to be hungry, but a person can choose to look the other way.
Perhaps if we saw a few more breasts that make milk, we might not be so hung up on the ones that don't.
|
Breastfeeding
Reading
Room
