Welcome to June’s Breastfeeding Carnival on Nursing In Public. This post coincidentally is doubling as my regular Monday Musing, so make sure you leave a comment so we can get the discussion going! And then check out the other blogs below for more great reads on this subject.
I am going to share with you a fresh perspective on nurse-in’s. You know, those protests nursing moms take part in outside or inside an establishment that has scorned a breastfeeding mom, causing her to go to the media, creating a fury of other angry breastfeeding moms, who to avenge their breastfeeding sister, go, and sit, and nurse their babies and toddlers, sometimes with protest signs in hand? Yeah, those.
The well known breastfeeding blogger, The Lactivist wrote a terrific article called Nurse-Ins are NOT the First Line of Defense (Or Why Men Run The World) and I hope you’ll go and read it. I love her thoughtful level-headedness about how to approach planning a nurse-in. It’s true that we don’t need to be seen as a group of “shrill, ranting women that gather a few minutes of publicity but ultimately get written off as ‘those crazy hormonal moms that want to cause a ruckus.’” So how can we ensure that we get taken seriously, make the press and change policy? Reading her article will help you get started.
But here is my own two cents and here is my fresh perspective. Think of the good you do, the inspiration you are, and the information you spread, in just nursing your baby or toddler in public. Whether you use a cover or not, and whether you get negative feedback, positive feedback or none at all, nursing in public makes a statement and young girls seeing you take away the message that it is okay to breastfeed. Even if they don’t think that at the time. Even if they say “Ew, gross” to their friends, their subconscience has received a message. Now think of how much extra good you could do nursing in public with a friend, or two, or three!
I am a fan of the nurse-in that isn’t a response to a public breastfeeding incident, but is instead a physical social commentary on celebrating breastfeeding. What would happen if a group of breastfeeding moms gathered in one place and began breastfeeding their children all at the same time? Without protest signs?
I have been a part of one of these demonstrations, albeit a highly organized international “nurse-in” of sorts. The Quintessence Foundation sponsors an annual Global Breastfeeding Challenge. The purpose is to highlight the benefits and value of breastfeeding, while having fun, as well as to promote friendly competition and inclusion between participating sites and countries. And while this project is a great way to support breastfeeding moms and their families, I tend to think the education that goes along with it preaches to the choir and fails to reach the masses outside.
One of the years that I participated we held the challenge in our town square. The breastfeeding exposure we received from the media was much more than the other years I participated and while I didn’t personally talk to any of the citizens who just happened to be walking by while the event was taking place, I believe that that year made a particular difference in normalizing and celebrating breastfeeding, at least in our town, than any other year when it was held at the local public health center or in a room at the Community Center, away from the public eye.
Breastfeeding in the public eye can only do society good. Last year my core group of girlfriends were all breastfeeding and we used to meet every Wednesday evening at the local coffee shop to eat desserts and catch up with each other. Of course at some point we all had to nurse our wee ones and often we’d do so in tandem. I know people noticed. High school kids and hipster college kids love this coffee shop. Likely a few of them twittered evil messages about us or assumed we all had obscene pictures posted on Facebook, but regardless of these possible reactions, I know subliminal messages were received.
So I leave you with this challenge. Or call it a dare if you will.
Gather up some breastfeeding friends (the more the better) and your nursing babies or toddlers and go to a busy public place. Maybe a mall, maybe a city square, maybe a park, a subway station or even a coffee shop. When everyone is ready start breastfeeding your children. Observe the responses of passersby. Feel the strength in numbers. What happens when you stage a nurse-in with celebration instead of picket signs? If you do this let me know what happens.
Then do it again.
Now do yourself a favour and check out these other posts on the Nursing in Public theme (to be updated throughout the day).
(Boobs) Out and Proud at Lucy and Ethel Have a Baby
Would you, Could You, Nurse in Public? at PhD in Parenting
Breastfeeding in Public Talents I Haz It at Dirty Diaper Laundry
Here? At The Restaurant? at Kim Through The Looking Glass
Nursing in a Room Full of People You Know at Grudgemom
Aww, Is He Sleeping? at Mum Unplugged
Nursing in Public, Chinatown, The Subway, The Vatican and More at Massachusetts Friends of Midwives
Breastfeeding in Public at Mother Mary’s Soapbox
Nursing in Public as an Immigrant at Tiny Grass
Breastfeeding in Public at Mommy News
Planes, Trains and Automobiles – We’ve Breastfed in Them All at Tales of Life with a Girl on the Go
We NIP in Park at BabyREADY
Products That Can Help You Breastfeed in Public at Mama Knows Breast
Get Kicked Off a Bus for Nursing in Public? Here’s How to Respond at Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog
Nursing in Public or NIP as It’s Known at Doudou Bebe
Thank You for Nursing in Public at Blacktating
Breastfeeding and the Summertime at Warm Hearts Happy Family
Why Worry about NIP? at Chronicles of a Nursing Mother
Little Old Men…& Nursing in Public at Stork Stories
Nursing in Public: To Cover or Not to Cover at Breastfeeding 1-2-3
Breastfeeding Hats? YES! Nursing Covers? Uh… Not So Much at Never A Dull Moment…
Nursing in Public – What’s a Breastfeeding Mother to do? at Breastfeeding Mums
Easy Discreet Way to Breastfeed a Toddler at Hobo Mama
Related posts:
- Monday Musings: Do Public Breastfeeding Moms Nurse Longer?
- Monday Musings: Are You Going?
- Can Early Public Breastfeeding Sightings Shape One’s Future Breastfeeding Practices?
- Monday Musings: Would You Nurse Another Woman’s Baby?
- Poll: How Long Did You Breastfeed? (Covering Up Vs. Not Covering Up)
Tags: Breastfeeding Carnival, Monday Musing, nurse-in, nursing covers
i wonder what happened to the lactivist? i used to read her blog but she hasn’t written anything for almost 1 year now
Jenny’s last blog post..Why Worry About NIP?
I remember nursing in public at the park, seeing that some adolescent girls saw me. I remember hoping that the scene stuck with them.
Opus #6’s last blog post..Boys+dirt equals fun
[...] Nursing in Public: A Fresh Perspective on Nurse-In’s [...]
[...] Melodie from Breastfeeding Moms Unite: “Nursing in Public: A Fresh Perspective on Nurse-Ins” [...]
Although I don’t do this on purpose, I often get together with other breastfeeding moms and occasionally we breastfeed at the same time
I’d love to actually organize it, though!
Kim’s last blog post..Happy Father’s Day!
I have many nursing mom friends, and we often take our nurslings out at the same time. Not to make a statement, but to socialize. I have found myself sitting around a restaurant table with 5 moms, all nursing at the same time. I have sat in a park with half a dozen or more nursing moms. I’ve never seen a particular reaction from anyone else. But I like to think of the positive example that we’re setting. When we’re all together it really communicates a message of normalization. This is us, we’re all nursing, and it’s totally OK. It’s just what we do.
Amber’s last blog post..Maternity Leave in India
@Kim – I think it would be so cool to actually organize somehting like this. Like @Amber, I have only done this while socializing with other breastfeeding moms. While it makes a statement, just all of us being seen together and communicating that subliminal message of normalization, a celebratory nurse-in would be something so fun and educational for the public I think. Like that California campaign to increase NIP awareness that got life size cardboard cut outs and placed them around a shopping center with educational pamplets attached.
I am thinking of organizing one at some point. But if someone gets on this before I do in their own hometown I definetly want to hear about it.
I wish I had friends who were nursing, I would love to do this. But I NIP so many places, so often, I feel I do a lot for awareness.
This was a lovely post!
Kim R.’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday- iPhone Camera Fun
I do think it’s a public service to nurse in public. But I can’t tell you how many times people didn’t realize I was. They either thought my kids were sleeping or just hanging in their slings. It wasn’t until they got really close that the truth presented itself!
My fave NIP story is from 2001, when we were doing a whole house renovation and had moved back into the master while they finished the rest of the house. My dear contractor sputtered something one day about me nursing my toddler in public and how he was so mortified to see it. To which I had to respond that it was 7 am and he was in MY BEDROOM!! He was, to be fair, in his 70s and couldn’t believe I could do such a thing. But now he knows.
Roxanne Beckford Hoge’s last blog post..Happy Father’s Day!
For mommies who breastfeed, check out http://www.heartstringcompanions.com . This product helps keep baby focused towards you, and not the surroundings.
Safe, non toxic, CPSIA approved!!!!
Danica Surette’s last blog post..Safety and Social Responsibility
Great Idea! If I was a nursing mom today I would say you are on! We did have some peaceful nurse-ins at malls near here while the PA legislature was being formulated. There was positive and negative feedback….I think as expected. I think it may be helpful or important to go in groups, sometimes, especially when a new mom may need a boost in confidence…. Maybe this can help NIP be widely accepted and normalized everywhere.
Birth_Lactation’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday… 1950’s “Good Wife Guide” and more…
[...] happened. Last Monday I contributed a post to the Nursing in Public Breastfeeding Carnival called Nursing in Public: A Fresh Perspective on Nurse-In’s. It was actually one of the first three posts I ever wrote for my blog but I’d decided to [...]
I have participated in the Breastfeeding Challenge three times now and had a picture of my daughter flashing my breast to the world at the Breastfeeding Challenge in my Breastfeeding Carnival post.
I have always made a point of nursing in public and smiling while I do so. Smiling to everyone that passes by, but especially to pregnant women or moms with small babies. I hope they will see me happily and confidently nursing in public and do it too!
I have nursed in public with groups of women, but never as a formal organized event except for the challenge.
Annie @ PhD in Parenting’s last blog post..Let’s try another analogy
Love the idea! I also believe that you don’t always need to go marching in with picket sings and attitudes to get a change. Granted, sometimes it helps, and other times it’s needed. But often, change happens through shifts in perspectives, and I think the best way to shift perspectives about nursing in public is simply by DOING.IT.
I was never really good at nursing in public, partly because our nursing relationship was problematic to start with. But I remember going to my Sunday knitting group about 3-4 weeks after DD’s birth, with all the paraphernalia we required (had ti use a shield, complete with water in a tupperware to wet it), and far from the best nursing wear on me. It didn’t quite work out – DD refused to latch, as usual, but I still tried it. Later when I spoke with my LC and told her about that, she was amazed that I even tried so early. She said most of her nursing moms didn’t feel comfortable nursing in public until weeks, even months later. My thoughts? “Oh, really? Hmm… but what’s the big deal?” I was really a bit clueless on all the debates, and to me, it just felt as natural doing this as it was to change her diaper.
If more people just went out there and nursed in public without necessarily planning it as a major protest, I think it would have the power to change a lot of things. In fact, perhaps staging too many protest is harmful for the public opinion on public nursing. It kind of attaches a stigma over it, where crazy-arse opinions go hand in hand with the action. It puts everyone in the same bag: “Oh, look, she’s nursing her baby on the bench there. I bet you she’s an opinionated lactivist.”
I will be looking up that Global Breastfeeding Challenge you talked about. That would be a cool thing to do. We have a similar event here in Ottawa (Ontario) during National Breastfeeding Week – or at least I think it’s National Breastfeeding Week… in October? Anyway, they host this big event at the St. Laurent shopping centre, where everyone is invited to come and nurse their baby throughout the day. I missed it this year (we were travelling), but some of my friends went, and it’s supposed to be great.
We aren’t nursing anymore, but you can bet I will nurse again next time. And perhaps I’ll have an easier time doing it away from home. Either way, I sure will give it a try!!
@Johanne – I agree with you about NIP – that it just needs to be done by more people more often. Then my idea to have a celebratory nurse-in wouldn’t even need to happen. Then real nurse-ins wouldn’t happen either. We’d all just be doing what nursing mothers do. Sad really that it’s such a big issue to some people that a baby needs to eat…
First off, let me say that I am 100% in favor of breastfeeding anywhere when you have a hungry infant. I too had strangers giving me the evil eye when I breastfed my son at storytime at the local library. I was hidden in the stacks and tried to be discreet at possible, using a burp cloth to “hide” the view. I won’t bore you with the details but that’s basically how my Nursing Cover Shop came about. Nursing covers have been around for decades and only in the last 4 years have become cute enough to actually use
I am definitely NOT suggesting that women “need” to cover up but if a bit of coverage helps give reluctant Mom’s the little bit of confidence required to go public…why not ?
[...] a month ago I thought I would have that celebratory nurse-out I talked about. But amidst two family vacations in July, blogging, work and day-to-day life it just [...]
For a hilarious breast-feeding story about nursing in public, check out this account of my wife at http://lifewithrachael.blogspo.....mping.html