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• Tuesday, August 7, 2007 07:59 PM

  No Haters Here

  I had a baby in Louisville Kentucky this past October, and I've been breastfeeding him ever since.

  Because I live in a rather conservative part of the country--and because I'd heard my own family make comments about others nursing in public in the past--I feared the worst. Newspaper articles about women being harangued, cited, and arrested for public indecency while nursing babies didn't help any.

  So I armed myself with information and prepared to fight a ground war for lactating moms. Well, I'm glad I was ready with my defenses, but the truth is I haven't needed any. I've nursed my baby at home, in other people's houses, in parks, in restaurants, on planes, on the beach, and everywhere else I've been for the past nine months. I've nursed in front of family and friends, in front of kids and grandparents, around men and women alike. I haven't always been discreet about it, and I've never encountered so much as a nasty stare. (A few uncomfortable glances from my brothers, maybe, but that's all.)

  At first I used a cover all the time, but by the time my son got squirmier and the weather got warmer, my wrap became a thing of the past and discretion flew out the window. I try to wear clothes that work well for nursing, and I position myself carefully wherever I am, but anyone who wants to get an eyeful certainly can.

  And yet, no censorious looks or comments have come my way. In fact, in recent months I've even heard family members defend public breastfeeding as though they can't remember a time when it made them uncomfortable.

  The lessons I'm taking away from this experience are, in no particular order:

  1. The message about breastfeeding is out there.

  2. Most people can be eased into public nursing if you give them time and a chance to get used to it.

  3. If the nursing mother seems comfortable, odds are so will those around her.

  So far as I can tell, the haters are far outnumbered. There may be many obstacles between a would-be nursing mother and success, but the fear of public disapproval or castigation need not be one of them. Nurse away!

  —jwolfgold Read jwolfgold's other letters
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