I am enjoying this thread.
I remember throughout my "nursing" career some interesting places to nurse. And of course the more I nursed the more creative and confident I became. But my fondest memories are when total strangers were excepting of my nursing my infants. I was 28 and visiting the Oklahoma City Zoo and needed to nurse my 4 month old daughter several times during one hot September day. So I usually would go to some air conditioned show to sit down. Well, one time we were across the zoo from any air conditioning and I found a nice shady bench in front of the lowland gorillas. I sat down and started to nurse with a very light blanket over the baby and myself for modesty. The mother lowland gorilla was doing the same (minus blanket). An older lady, maybe mid sixties came and sat next to me. She could have ignored me or said something derogatory, but she said, "you just open that blanket up, its too hot to have a blanket today." I told her I was nursing and she said, "well, that doesn't
matter, so is she (pointing to gorilla). You are in the right spot, and doing the most natural thing in the world. Let that baby have some cool air." And so she sat next to me, on my "exposed midriff" side and we continued to have a nice conversation.
Another time I went on a hayride to a campfire at one of Oklahoma's state parks near Oklahoma City (Roman Nose?). They provided stiff Indian blankets for cover during this cool night in October. So bumping along on the hayride I was nursing under the Indian blanket and later sitting near the big bonfire with about 40 other people and kids. They were calling on people to come up for different activities and called on me. I told them I was busy feeding my daughter, and he said to the crowd, "She's providing Nature's Own!" And then moved on.
And all the countless medical conferences and workshops the hospital asked me to go to. In my naivete, I just told people nonchalantly I wouldn't go unless I could take my nursing daughter. I had nothing to lose by not going but I wanted to go if everything lined up for me. And the people around me made it happen (thanks Sally Page Goertz and Best Beginnings in Kansas City). Looking back, I must have had great guardian angels, peers and coworkers. Everyone can make a difference.
And cleaning the shores in Manhattan Kansas after the floods of 1993. I was 35 and my 2 month old daughter was in my "sling" and I was with my girl scout troop removing debris left from the high waters at Tuttle creek dam area. Walking over big boulders, collecting trash and then sitting down to nurse in the sling. The girl scouts and their parents just totally accepted me nursing my 2 month old. Thanks to my co-leaders who gave me a great amount of help, all those 16 scouts saw me nursing at every meeting and outing (hikes in the Konza prairie, overnights at the girls scout hut, etc) and I hope were able to see breastfeeding as very normal.
Of course there are all the restaurants, stores and normal places when people don't know you are nursing and come over to see the baby. At the restaurant we would always ask for a booth for privacy. One time a nice older couple came over to see the baby they had enjoyed watching while they ate their dinner. I told them, "I am nursing" and they said "thats okay!" and would proceed to bring their hand up to lift the blanket. So I would just uncover (you couldn't see anything because I was wearing a non nursing shirt just pulled up and it fell over my breast but showed the baby off beautifully). These times would empower my husband as well to become more assertive in supporting me and other breastfeeding women.
My husband reminds me of the time we were stuck on Interstate 40 in a freak snowstorm from Nashville to Oklahoma in the January of 1985. My daughter was 1 year old (I was 26) and we could only drive 25 miles an hour the entire route to Fort Smith Arkansas. No one was exiting the road because you couldn't get back on the highway, the state troopers were telling people to keep moving, and everything was closed....gas stations and food. So we just kept going. No food in our car, and my one year old was hungry and so was constantly nursing. I am sure she breastfed non stop for the 23 HOUR DRIVE!! It was the only way to keep her quiet so my husband could drive and she was out of her car seat the entire time (not a great idea). We were lucky to have breastmilk for this emergency. And you can imagine how much milk I had 24 hours later!
Maybe each one of these times we experience, we can influence the other people, parents and girls that you can take a baby anywhere when you breastfeed. You just incorporate the baby into the plans, instead of changing the plans for the baby. Just a sling and a diaper is all I ever packed to go on outings.
Sorry this is so long. I would love to hear other people's stories, as well.
Theresa Johnson
Orlando Florida
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