On Monday, June 20, hundreds of women joined on the steps of the Trafford Centre in Manchester, UK, in celebration of their national breastfeeding week. According to the Daily Mail, the Trafford Centre fully supported this “flashmob” and used the national breastfeeding week to announce they refurbished their breastfeeding facilities for shoppers. The article went on to say that many people supported this cause.
Across the United States, whenever a mom is asked by an employee of a public establishment to either cover up while breastfeeding or leave, that establishment can count on being put in the news. Inevitably, the mom will grow offended, call her friends and stage a nurse in.
A nurse in is a silent protest where 2 or more mothers (events like this usually draw at least 5) gather at the place of business and all nurse their babies/toddlers at the same time. In this way they are hoping to draw attention to the fact that the business was wrong in asking the mother to leave and they are acting out their right to breastfeed in public. Mothers are legally allowed to breastfeed wherever she is allowed to be.
I am torn about the issue of nurse-ins. I do believe they are the most calm way to bring attention to a very serious issue. Breastfeeding in public should not even be an issue. A baby is hungry, a mom should feed it. End of story. Unfortunately, moms still fight the backwards thinking from business owners that breastfeeding ought to be a private thing. That somehow showing a sliver of skin – much less than people show off at Wal-Mart – will sexually offend someone in some way.
By joining as a group and nursing in these places, moms are stating clearly that this is normal. Breastfeeding is not sexual, it is something lots of people do.
But here is where I am torn: by performing nurse-ins are we making a bigger deal about it than it needs to be? Is there a better way to handle it? To me, a nurse in is simple and small. But then the news gets involved and the story spreads over the internet. Everyone hears about “those lactivists” nursing in the store together. By protesting are we adding to the stereotype that breastfeeding moms are hippies?
But we cannot ignore the problem either. We cannot just go home and fume about how it felt to be told you are not allowed to feed your baby in their store because you use your boob and not a bottle. So nurse ins are a way to help normalize this way of feeding our babies.
Really, the solution will be if everyone just accepts that babies need to eat and breastfeeding is how they get their food, and stop asking these moms to cover up or leave. If everyone just accepted it, we wouldn’t have to deal with nurse ins at all. Will we ever get to that point? I think we will and I think some parts of the country are much more accepting than others. For now, I am glad there are groups like La Leche League and encouraging lactivists that boost a discouraged mom’s confidence.
I’ve never actually heard of a nurse-in but I’m glad now I know. 🙂 Education about the law seems to be my priority. If a person is of the mind set that nursing is bad or in some way sexual, well, I simply have pitty, but to be protected by the law and then to be discriminated again is definitely where I take a stand. Ignorance is hard to combat at times but it’s good to know there are women out there that choose to stand/sit, in some form, and educate the world by their presence. Sometimes seeing a nursing mother and realizing it’s not all that bad, can be an experience that a person can take with him/her and in the end, maybe tolerance will build.
I cant say 100% I’d be a part of a nurse-in but I applaud these women none the less. 🙂
I, too, have had mixed feelings about nurse ins in the past. However, as a Christian I have looked at breastfeeding in public from scriptures that I have found in the Bible. I was going to try to type out my comment here, but I can’t seem to condense it to make it sound right so I’m linking to it above. Basically I give an example of what I would do if I’m approached in public and why. I’m not saying this to condemn what others do, but this is my perspective. Just as there are many people who interpret scripture for their own denomination, I have interpreted what I believe is true about NIP.
I have mixed feelings on the subject. Yes, I think it’s incredibly wrong to stop a breastfeeding mother from feeding their child – no matter where they are. But, isn’t the entire argument that breastfeeding in public does not get in anyone’s way and really doesn’t make a difference to anyone but the mother and child? If nurse-ins get really large (like that first picture) then aren’t they creating a public nuisance by completely taking over the establishment? I can’t really answer the question, but it just kind of seems to go against what the movement is about.
I can see the issue on both sides. Nursing is a perfectly natural thing that mothers should be allowed to do anywhere. And of course you are right, if a baby is hungry the mother should be able to feed it. Maybe where business owners get weirded out is the fact that the only thing separating your nipple from making an appearance to the world is your baby’s head. BUT as you also stated there are people that wear much worse things in public and aren’t asked to cover up. For example, when extremely overweight women wear spandex….*shudders*
Anyways, my stance is this: I agree that a mother should be able to breastfeed. But I also think that they should be modest about it. You compare yourselves to the people that only wear clothes to barely cover up their nethers so you are basically putting yourself at the same level as them. Set the example and be better than them because you ARE better than them.
I plan to breastfeed whenever God blesses me with motherhood but I also plan to try to be as modest about it as possible. I don’t want anyone taking a gander at the girls that’s not supposed to and I want to try to set the example of working peacefully with those that may oppose me.
I’m also torn on the subject of nurse-ins. On one hand it’s really eye opening for people but on the other it’s drawing attention to something that shouldn’t be a big deal. A baby has to eat and breast milk is best, you shouldn’t have to feed your baby in the bathroom. It’s perfectly acceptable for formula fed babies to be held close and fed from a bottle I don’t see how a breastfed baby shouldn’t get the same luxury. I think there are certain people that aren’t discreet about nursing and this is where people start having issue. I always used a nursing cover (even in the heat) for my privacy and out of consideration for others.