A Question of Attitude

By Sharon Moran

The issue of nursing in public is a source of constant debate. The resulting outcome of such debates demonstrates that many Americans are misinformed at best and at worst breast-phobic. Who could forget the Super Bowl display when Janet Jackson bared all, exposing her breast and part of her nipple? Despite the near hostility that is directed towards many nursing mothers, the reality is that the overwhelming majority of nursing mothers are conservative in their demeanor when nursing in public. In fact, nursing in public is so easy for veteran moms that in many cases people are usually not even aware if a mother is nursing or if the infant is simply sleeping.

It’s easy to see the impact that negative attitudes towards nursing in public have on breastfeeding rates. About 30% of new mothers in the U.S. never nurse their babies despite widespread evidence indicating breastfeeding as the preferred method of infant feeding. Of the 70% of new moms who choose to breastfeed, only 17% are still nursing at the 6-month mark, and a mere 8% reach the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation of nursing for at least one year. The U.S. has the lowest breastfeeding initiation rate of all industrialized nations. In countries such as Sweden, over 90% of new moms breastfeed. One contributing factor to such a wide variation in breastfeeding rates across continents involves cultural attitudes. Many new moms in the U.S. never even attempt breastfeeding when their babies are born simply because of the perceived fear that they might one day have to nurse in public. The U.S. clearly needs a radical shift in the misguided priorities and gender biases inherent in the negative perception that nursing is abnormal or borderline obscene.

Certainly those individuals opposed to nursing in public offer what they believe are reasonable alternatives. The most common suggestion offered to breastfeeding moms is to feed a nursing baby in a nearby bathroom. Another popular suggestion is that a nursing mother should offer a nursing baby pumped breast milk in a bottle while in public places. There are at least a dozen reasons why feeding expressed breast milk is not viewed as a suitable choice by a committed breastfeeding mother, and for obvious reasons I won’t even touch the suggestion about “dining” in a restroom. One major issue with expressed breast milk is the possibility of contamination of the pumped milk, particularly on hot days. Also, even if a nursing mom fed a bottle of pumped breast milk, in the absence of actually nursing her infant, she will still need to pump at some point which really doesn’t solve the problem because when out in public she would be relegated to the bathroom to pump.

If the sight of a nursing mother is so uncomfortable to those who would love to ban breastfeeding in public places, I have to wonder what such individuals think of scantily-clad models on the magazine covers at the grocery checkout. Are these images as equally offensive and repelling? All too often in our nation another nursing mother is forced to a leave public place due to outdated attitudes that harm infants simply for the sake of ensuring that males will still be able to view breasts solely as sex objects. If men were biologically equipped to breastfeed (in some cultures males have actually nursed and generated a limited milk supply), I’m fairly confident that you would not see one bottle of infant formula in a public place. Breastfeeding would be viewed as the biologically preferred, health-affirming process that it is, rather than be viewed as overtly sexual and indecent. Men would have no qualms or hesitation about nursing in public. They would do it with the same nonchalance and ease they have when “readjusting.” Women, on the other hand, suffer from the “disease to please” which causes them to focus too heavily on what others think. Rather than be concerned for themselves or their babies, they are concerned with the outdated, borderline Puritanical attitudes of everyone else. I’m not advocating complete dissent from social etiquette guidelines. Rather, our social etiquette rules should give them same consideration and accommodation to breastfeeding moms as we do moms who bottle feed. Ban nursing in public places, and you have to ban bottle feeding as well.

On the countless occasions I nursed my child in public, I never once bared any visible skin whatsoever. I have easily revealed far more wearing expensive designer dresses than I ever did as a mother nursing in public.

As a teen, I was never offended at the site of a nursing mother, regardless of how rare it was to see a nursing mother. (To date, I have only seen about two dozen mothers nursing in public, all were modest, so I really have no idea what anti-breastfeeding citizens are complaining about.) I often wondered, at the naïve age of fifteen, why nursing mothers didn’t simply “plan better.” That was before motherhood, obviously, when I lacked the maturity to realize exactly what is involved with successfully nursing an infant. Infants nurse literally around the clock. Breast milk is digested very differently than infant formula, so a nursing infant often needs to nurse for an hour with perhaps as little as ten to twenty minutes in between feedings. Unless every new mom is expected to adhere to a sentence of house arrest, nursing in public is eventually unavoidable.

Admittedly, I did vow I would never nurse in public, and I made those statements as late as third trimester of pregnancy. Then reality set in when I became a mom, and I realized that nursing should not be viewed as such a negative, indecent event. I have absolutely zero responsibility for Hollywood’s success in sensationalizing breasts as sexual objects, and I don’t intend for the provincial attitudes that have resulted to unduly influence my parenting decisions. As a dedicated mother, I was undeterred from nursing in public and not about to let the misplaced logic of a small minority of reincarnated Puritans dictate what is best for my baby’s health and well being. It’s pretty obvious our nation is headed for serious trouble when Playboy and pornography are considered mainstream and the sight of a nursing infant is considered perverse. I have no issue with adult pornography or immodest attire, but if you’re going to dress in a revealing manner, don’t be offended by a mother nursing her infant or toddler.

I urge those who find nursing in public distasteful to undo their tightly-buttoned, overly-starched collars. Breastfeeding is normal. I realize a drastic shift in cultural attitudes will need to occur for nursing in public to become the societal norm, but my hope is that one day the mere sight of a nursing mother in public will be viewed as exactly what it is and has been for thousands of years-normal.

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