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So, to ask what age it becomes unacceptable? I wouldn't be able to give one.
This isn't much about PUBLIC breastfeeding per se but I do think it's odd that breastfeeding is looked at as something that you should limit to only the age in which a baby is physically incapable of holding a vessel of some sort. Sure, a baby could probably feed themselves milk from a bottle or cup from 6 months on, but why? To promote this seems as if a person is saying that drinking from a breast is dirty, vulgar, or at best something to be replaced as quickly as possible. I don't get that at all. Why is a cup is morally superior to a breast?
I couldn't have said this better (that is what I wanted to add). To me, my baby has been asking to nurse since the day she was born. Not suddenly at 6 months.
At some point though, comforting should not equate to food (whether breast or not). If the only way you can comfort your child is to provide food that's a whole new can of worms.
Oh, I don't know. I find ice cream to be just the thing for sixteen-year-olds who've just broken up with boyfriends...
I know what you're saying, and theoretically, I agree. There presumably is some transition time in the weaning process, though, both emotionally and nutritionally. I don't know too many people who recommend looking at the baby one day and telling him "nah, I'm done with that now, go fix yourself a bottle".
Back to the original subject...I don't know how I would react to a five-year-old being breastfed in public, because I've never seen it, even during the many years I lived in the "anything goes" Bay Area. And, that was my point. I think everybody's feathers are ruffled about something they'll likely never actually see unless they travel outside the U.S.
I agree. Even in my fairly-granola, attachment-parenting, sling-wearing, we-must-outlaw-high-fructose-corn-sweetener homeschholing circles I've yet to see a five year old nursing.
Heard rumors of a nursing six year old once. At a La Leche League convention. In 1983. Yes, I have to go back that far-- and probably it's like those twins named Orangejello and Lemonjello who supposedly are friends of a friend of...pretty much everybody.
Ending breastfeeding is a form of letting go a bit, and some women can't handle the fact that their baby can survive without them.
It is no longer a benefit to the child after the first few months, but without it, the mother would have to admit that her child is no longer attached to her in a physical way, so she prolongs the breastfeeding to keep her delusional fantasy going a little longer.
Continuing to breastfeed past the time the child can drink out of a cup at a few months of age is a crutch for the mother.
Uh...most babies can't even hold their own bottles before six-eight months, and yet you think they should be drinking from a sippy cup at three months and any nursing done after that age is for Mom's gratification?
Oooo-kayyyyy.....
What interests me the most about the statistics is that the argument for public breastfeeding is that there are only a few people against it. My feeling is that there are more people against it than there are people who are actually breastfeeding. Given that taken together breastfeeding mothers account for 1.78% of the population, why do their rights supercede the remaining 98.22% of the population?
Your statistics are flawed. For example, I am not currently breastfeeding (haven't for decades). But that doesn't make me offended by it, either.
When I'm in public I'm not accustomed to staring at other people long enough to worry about what they're doing under that baby shawl. And if by "whipping out" a breast the lady in the next booth could get her toddler to stop jumping on the seat, I'd be completely thrilled.
At some point it really crosses the line from public breastfeeding, (which is bad enough) to downright perversion.
I mean...if the hubby were exposing his private parts to the children in public, he'd be called a pervert! Right?
Mammary glands, designed by nature to feed human infants. Males have no such glands but do have a nipple which I do see flaunted quite often in public with no outcry.
Oh, I don't know. I find ice cream to be just the thing for sixteen-year-olds who've just broken up with boyfriends...
I know what you're saying, and theoretically, I agree. There presumably is some transition time in the weaning process, though, both emotionally and nutritionally. I don't know too many people who recommend looking at the baby one day and telling him "nah, I'm done with that now, go fix yourself a bottle".
Agreed. I was mostly responding to the example of public breastfeeding a toddler who needed nurturing because a clothing rackhad fallen upon him. The picture of someone running to a child old enough to have a clothing rack falling on him whilst unbuttoning a blouse to comfort said child was a little strange. And like I said, I wouldn't be running to him feeling the need to shove apples into his mouth for immediate comfort either. Food as some kind of comfort is one thing. Comforting a child old enough to be in a situation where something like a clothing rack falling upon him should be able to be accomplished in other ways. That was my only point. Not really responding to the breastfeeding issue (which has been beaten to death IMO) so much as the shoving food (of any description)toward a child as the primary and immediate source of comfort upon some traumatic event.
Last edited by maciesmom; 07-02-2010 at 09:21 PM..
Your statistics are flawed. For example, I am not currently breastfeeding (haven't for decades). But that doesn't make me offended by it, either.
I agree. Even before I had a baby I wasn't bothered by women breastfeeding in public. My Mom breastfed my little brother and I was old enough to see her do it so I never thought of breastfeeding as anything other then feeding one's child.
Uh...most babies can't even hold their own bottles before six-eight months, and yet you think they should be drinking from a sippy cup at three months and any nursing done after that age is for Mom's gratification?
Oooo-kayyyyy.....
There is something seriously wrong with a baby's gross motor function if it can't hold it's bottle at 6-8 months.
I did not say 3 months, I said 'a few', meaning about 6 months when they start sitting in a high chair.
So, I'm just wondering, for those of you so offended by nursing in public, particularly of "older" babies over 6 or 12 months or whatever, if you find this photo to display offensive behavior. This is me, last week, nursing my (14 month old) baby on vacation at the top of a mountain (yes, other tourists were all around). As you can see, no breast is visible at all, though I do not use a cover. You can barely even tell that I'm nursing except that my shirt is a little wrinkled above the baby. I feel that this is very typical of what nursing in public looks like, and I just can't see how it is offensive, IF the problem you have with nursing in public is that you think you will see boob or nipple, as opposed to just *knowing* that someone is nursing. So please tell me, is this offensive, and if so why? Would it make a difference if my baby was younger, and if so, why?
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