As a breastfeeding mom, you know that nursing your baby can be quite demanding. Breastfeeding just doesn’t pick any time or place. Sometimes, you’re forced to nurse in awkward and unsanitary places like inside a car or a dirty bathroom stall! Not only that, many moms face day-to-day judgments, criticisms, and harassment because of their breastfeeding choices, especially whenever breastfeeding in public.
It’s unfortunate that society hasn’t fully accepted public breastfeeding. Despite the strong advocacy by many health organization and lactation experts, how can this natural bonding activity between a mother and child be stigmatized and sexualized by many people in our society? It’s time we fight for our rights as breastfeeding mothers and normalize breastfeeding!
Why Breastfeeding Should Be Normalize
Breastfeeding is a way of nourishing a baby.
We all enjoy dining out and eating outside of our homes! And if babies feed on breast milk, why should anyone have the right to stop a mother from feeding her child? Breast milk is the most recommended source of food for babies. It is a natural and fundamental act to sustain a child’s life.
Breasts are not just sexual objects.
Shifting the public’s image of the breasts remains to be the biggest challenge. After all, many of us have been brought up in an overly sexualized society. In reality, however, a mother’s breasts do more wonders than what most people know. They provide the nourishment for a baby’s growth and development and offers so many positive health effects that both benefit the mother and her baby!
There’s nothing to be shameful about breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding is one of the most natural and sacred bonding experience any parent can have with their child. But since society dictates exposing your breasts as a form of nudity, many moms feel fear, disgust, and shame from breastfeeding. Ideally, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about breastfeeding in public. In fact, it should elicit positive reactions. Any breastfeeding mother should feel amazing and proud to be able to breastfeed their own child.
Moms need a safe and comfortable space to breastfeed.
To initiate breastfeeding, mothers need to trigger their let down reflex. But what does this entail? Not only do you need to feel connected to your baby, but you also need to feel relaxed and comfortable so that the milk can start flowing. Although lactation rooms are becoming widely available, there may still be instances where a mom might need to pop her breasts out in public to be able to feed her baby.
Every woman has the right to breastfeed in public.
Good news mommyz, the law has your back when it comes to public breastfeeding! Since 2018, all 50 states have given rights to mothers to breastfeed in public. There may be some variations in each state’s law, but it generally allows women to breastfeed whenever and wherever they want. In addition, about 29 states don’t consider breastfeeding as an indecent act.
With these reasons in mind, there is just no excuse for a mom to hide inside a bathroom stall or in their car just to nurse their child! Breastfeeding is a normal and natural act that should be enjoyed by moms whenever and wherever they want. By normalizing breastfeeding, we can empower every woman to be the best mom that they can be!
