| Friday, August 3, 2007 |
| Public Breastfeeding |
Yesterday at the aquarium I was ready. Ready for anyone to dare say to me I couldn't nurse my child in public. While I try to be discreet, there are always the people who will think it is wrong. So I was prepared with my "I have the right to feed my child wherever I like" speech. Luckily I didn't need to use it.
However, I did come across two things, the first being a mother pumping in the bathroom. She was in the stall next to me and I could clearly hear her pump going "beep-beep-beep" or somethings similar to that. I hope that she didn't feel that she couldn't feed her child in public and was pumping for some other reason.
The other thing I came across was absolutely beautiful. We stopped and rested for a while in front of the dolphin tank. It feels like you are underwater with them, watching them glide back and forth. There was one dolphin considerably smaller than the rest, which I assume was the calf. The calf was swimming very closely with a bigger dolphin and it took me a few minutes to realize what was happening...the calf was nursing from it's mother. Now I have never seen this and I thought it was beautiful to watch.
From Dolphintrainer.com:
Nursing process: Female dolphins posses two mammal glands which produce a rich milk to nourish her young. The calf feeds on this milk by placing its rostrum against one of the two mammal slits located on the ventral surface of the mother's body. It then cups its tongue around the nipple which lies beneath the mammary slit. A tight seal is formed between the calf's tongue and the mother's nipple. The mother can physically eject milk into the calves mouth to help speed the nursing process. This is very helpful since the whole process takes place under water while both animals hold their breath.
So I was thinking why it that we have become so ashamed of nursing in public? Why are we one of the only countries in the world where people think that breastfeeding is gross? I know these questions have been raised a million times and I am not going to debate anything here...I just don't get why the most natural thing in the world is so offensive to some people. Would these same people be grossed out what their cat had kittens and nursed them, etc? I surely wasn't offended by the dolphins, and no one around me seemed to be either. I even took some video of one of the dolphins and will try and upload it later.
And to add to this cartoon below, how true! I saw more harsh discipline than I care for, and no nursing.
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posted by Beth @ 11:06 AM  |
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Name: Beth
About Me: 29 years young
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