dear anne and others,
i found your discussion concerning public breastfeeding very interesting, and
i like the idea of looking at various bodily functions and their level of
public acceptance as a continuum. i think one of the problems of perception
of breastfeeding is that many people who would accept a "baby" nursing in
public withdraw their implicit approval after the "baby" turns into a toddler
or child. other points at which "some people" object to breastfeeding include
"when they can ask for it," "when they can open the mother's blouse
themselves," "when they have teeth," (all of these refer to the baby, of
course), etc.
once when my not-so-old child finished nursing and said, thank you, mama, a
friend watching this literally slid to the floor laughing, but said, "when he
can thank you for it, he's too old." this was at about age two. so, if we
would like to see all babies breastfeed until they are at least two, or
longer, then they are no longer babies in most people's eyes, but toddlers,
or children. this seems to be way past the point of acceptance on the
continuum, and it reminds me that we must still seek a way to convince the
"general public" or "people," that this is normal human behavior.
carol brussel
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