Get Your Nurse On: At Nurse-Ins and Public Places

When I was in high school and college, I worked at an Italian chain restaurant.  I remember one time, a server stormed in to the drink station, seething because there was a woman nursing her baby at one of his tables.  He likened it to her performing oral sex on a man.  I was probably 18 at the time, far from becoming a mom, but it did not matter--this guy was a jerk and I told him so.  I don't even remember our conversation, just that he was so mad about it.

Ten years later, as a breastfeeding mother, I continue to see discrimination against breastfeeding pairs.  Apparently, just two days ago on January 5, there was a nationwide "nurse-in" at Hollister stores of all places.  A breastfeeding mom in Houston had been yelled at and banished from the front of a Hollister store, where she was nursing her baby.  I'm not in the US right now, but I would have participated if I had been.  

To read more about the nurse-in, click here.

Last weekend we went to the mall in search of Aberdeen's best burger (more on that later).  After we ate, I wanted to go to the restroom to change the babies' diapers, and it turns out they had a baby changing room, also.  It was the size and shape of a regular mall restroom, but had no stalls or toilets.  It was big enough for my husband and the stroller to come in, and there was another couple with their baby as well.  Where the counter and sinks would be were four changing pad stations complete with wipe dispensers and little sacks for the used diapers.  They also had a comfy chair in the corner and a little side table, which I assumed was for breastfeeding.  I thought it was a pretty nice little set up--for those mothers who prefer to nurse in (semi) private.  At least it was better than another post I read, about a bathroom where a toilet had been removed from one of the stalls and replaced with a rocking chair, intended for breastfeeding mothers.  Convenient or disgusting?   

Lastly, a couple of months ago I found out that Facebook had been removing pictures of breastfeeding because of user complaints, although Facebook's own stance is that pictures of breastfeeding are fine and are allowed.  The Feminist Breeder is a somewhat in-your-face blogger who then went on a 72 hour campaign to flood Facebook with breastfeeding pictures, just to see how they would react.  The results are interesting; you can read more about that here.  

If you don't have a problem with breastfeeding, but think it should be done in private, I urge you to read these valid points on why breastfeeding mothers should feel free and even encouraged to nurse in public.