Donate SIGN UP

Breastfeeding

Avatar Image
drestie | 18:19 Fri 04th Aug 2006 | Body & Soul
22 Answers
Saw this on the news this morning and I was shocked at how people have reacted to this magazine cover.

Since when did breastfeeding become so offensive that it is considered inappropriate for a parenting magazine?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060804/od_afp/af plifestyleussocialbreastfeeding

Is this just an American thing, or do you think it would get the same reaction in the UK?
Gravatar

Answers

1 to 20 of 22rss feed

1 2 Next Last

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by drestie. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
what gets my goat is that american people think WE are uptight! How can something so natural be classed as disgusting, i saw Trisha once with some silly glamour bird saying she didnt breastfeed her kid cos her t**ts were for men to look at and breastfeeding is disgusting, what is the world coming to!
It's a perfectly natural thing to do. Thankfully we aren't quite as screwed up as most Americans. most ladies try to be as discreet as possible anyway.
It's a long time since I needed to buy mum and baby mags but it never seemed a prob and I have never heard of it being a prob.
Though i do know that at work customers are not advised to breast feed in the store, there is a room set aside, staff are told to ask the mum to use the room if she starts to breast feed in the store anywhere, including the customer restaurant.
A beautiful photo. :)
My parents-in-law almost had a fit when I first started breastfeeding my daughter whilst at theirs for Sunday dinner. I couldn't believe their reaction. Same happened whilst I was at the airport and my mother-in-law tried to make me do it in the toilets. I asked if she would eat her meal there and then just proceeded to feed my daughter in the waiting lounge.

All this fuss is beyond my belief but I don't need to prove anything, which I think some women do. Some places are ok to breastfeed in whilst in others I would use bottles of expressed milk. The trick is to know when and where. But I do often wonder about Americans...
a room is all well and good, but round here you get asked to go in the loos, er i dont think so!
Needeless to say when i have my baby i am expressing for when we go out, unless we go to bluewater as they have breastfeeding suites with lovely chairs etc! In my town there isnt really anywhere.
as R'n'R said most women are discreet so i think some peoples attitudes are awful, in scotland they have a very high rate of breastfeeding, here it is so low, and such a shame, hospitals are bribing people with free nappies if they breastfeed and yet not offering any help or supposrt when its needed.
Oops, sorry for the rant!
That's just the trouble Drestie , people are now too accustomed to seeing breasts in a sexual context that they forget what purpose they actually serve. Breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world and the bond which mother and child subsequently develop is second to none. Breast milk is free , always at the correct temperature , full of all the essential vitamins and minerals which a baby needs (naturally) and unlike formula milk feeding , breastfed babies have less chance off developing inherited conditions and allergies. Unfortunately , in this country a lot of people are still uncomfortable with the notion of breastfeeding and yet , a group of those who say that will happily ogle page 3 women. My youngest child is 19 months and I am still breastfeeding him. My hubby has never really supported me to be honest (his nose was out of joint because he wanted to give milk feeds to him as well) and I have had no support really from my family either. Bottle feeding is the norm in my family and all I ever get is 'take him off the breast and live your life again'. I'm not planning to feed him forever - maybe just another couple of months but I am proud that even without support I have lasted this long. I just wish that others could see how wonderful this mother child bond is and be a bit more understanding. For a so called modern , progressive society , when it comes to breastfeeding , we have still got a lot to learn.
dot - I breastfed for over a year, anywhere and everywhere.

I doubt anybody even noticed, with the use of big tops and baby shawls placed in strategic places.

I would have been mortified to have been asked to stop. A screaming baby is far more of an irritation to the general public that a possible very fleeting glance of a partially exposed breast.

What did disgust me last week - I was in my local Halifax and the very large man in the queue ahead of me was wearing nothing except for a pair of very brief shorts and a pair of sandals. He was sweating profusely. Not the place for beachwear.
Question Author
Good point, enigma.

I think people have forgotten what breasts are there for!!!
For a large part (though not all) America has over it's fair share of psycho Christians who can't bear anything remotely naked or revealing. They not regular Christians, they're nutters and who's fault is that? OURS! We sent them there when we'd had enough of them telling us what we could and couldn't do and got tired of them wearing hats with buckles on! We sent the religious nutters there, it's all our fault! They call it Thanks Giving Day, we call if F*ck Off Puritan Day ;o)
There really isn't anything I can add that hasn't already been said. I too think it's nature at it's purest form and have never had a problem with it, I also intend to breast feed my baby when it arrives and no matter what time of day or night, if my baby needs feeding and I haven't any expressed milk left then I would find a nice quiet area with very little or no traffic - it's not like I'd just lob out a boob in the middle of a cafe!

I think you see far more on the front cover of mags such as FHM which are there in full view of children.
All I can say is thank heavens for the Breastfeeding Act (Scotland) 2005. It is an offence in Scotland to prevent a breastfeeding mother from feeding her child in public. Why should we have to sit in a smelly toilet (as I have previously done) to feed our child ? It is not comfortable for mother or baby to be slouched over a toilet seat and even a lot of breastfeeding rooms are a feeding room/baby changing room and most mothers will testify to the awful smell which wafts up from the bin in these rooms. (Soiled nappies not in nappy sacks. Need I say more ?) I have never bared my breasts to feed my children .......... well , except for that one time when I stood up to put my daughter back in her pram as I said to my sister 'See , I am discreet. No-one saw a thing' , only for her to point out that I hadn't fixed my top and I was flashing my boob to the whole restaurant ! Apart from that , onlookers would just think that I was cuddling my baby. When my son is hungry , I feed him anywhere at any time and if someone minds , then tough. It's not as if they see anything anyway.

Oh and on the subject of expressing milk , I have often heard people saying that breastfeeding is disgusting and mothers should express milk. Easier said than done. This isn't always possible for everyone. I for one have never really been able to express much and although my health visitor told me to store it in bags in the freezer and make up feeds , the amount was so minimal that I just managed to sotre up enough for the occasional night out but I could never get enough for taking out and about with me to the shops for example.
Store up enough - not sotre up. (Oops)
Quite a similar issue to this was raised in a recent programme i watched called "my breasts and i" i think it was on telly last week.

Basically the fact is that most people will see at as a natural thing. However a small group of people will allways take offence and in a space like a crowded street or supermarket theres always going to be one person to take offence. And it only takes one person hassling you to make a scene.

Also in america politicains are more likely to side with the anit-public breastfeeding side as they are mostly the religious conservatives that seem to be controlling the presidency at the mo. Thankfully in britain we are not controlled my religoius factions.
lovely picture :)
i breastfed my three everywhere and anywhere, never once was i asked to stop or move, but then i didnt flash them for all the world to see either.
I agree.. a wonderful photo :o)

never have, and never will find breastfeeding offensive. Yet again a group of individuals force sexual connotations on to a perfectly natural practice.

I find that far more offensive than a baby having it's dinner!
-- answer removed --
Part of the problem is that you often see a baby (in life or on screen) being bottlefed, and seldom see one being breast fed. This gives the idea that bottle feeding is the norm, and breastfeeding is weird!
For all you breastfeeders out there - try doing it in the bath! It's the most wonderful cuddly sensual experience, all that bare warm skin & no worries about a few drips.
Question Author
Well I am an American and I just don't understand what all the fuss is about, especially given all the nudity everywhere. Breastfeeding is the most wonderful natural loving thing a woman can do, and for people (especially mothers) to get so bent out of shape about this is baffling to me.
OMG how disgraceful - there is nothing wrong with breastfeeding and if its a parenting magazine where is the harm. Im a 21 yr old mother and i breastfed my daughter for 12 months and was not ashamed to fed her in public with discretion. breastfeeding should be encouraged 100% of the way

1 to 20 of 22rss feed

1 2 Next Last

Do you know the answer?

Breastfeeding

Answer Question >>