Wendy's post reminds me of very positive experiences I have had breastfeeding on short 
and long flights.

A couple of years back, a woman sitting across the aisle from me on a short international 
flight commented positively on the fact that I was breastfeeding my one-year-old 
daughter and later gave me a portion of her paper, the Independent, I think, and 
suggested I read a very strong, positive Op-Ed piece about breastfeeding.  As we were 
getting off the airplane, I was complimenting my kids on how well they did, to which the 
woman said, "It's the breastfeeding!"

Last year, on an international flight between Chicago and Manchester, England, my 
daughter nursed frequently throughout the overnight flight.  A fews rows up, a baby and 
her 2-year-old sister cried and screamed off and on for the entire 7 hours.  Everyone on 
the flight grew weary of this situation (I mainly felt empathy, but the other passengers, 
not so much).  At the woman sitting across the aisle from me said, "You are SO smart to 
breastfeed."  She was American, and not the least bit scandalized by how old my nursling 
was (about 27 months at the time).

As I conversed briefly with both of these women, I discerned that neither was a lactivist 
or particularly knowledgable about breastfeeding.  But both seemed to get how sensible it 
is to breastfeed, especially on an airplane.

Flight attendants have been overwhelmingly respectful of my privacy when I've breastfed 
my children, even when it wasn't happening in the most discreet way.  I've always gotten 
the impression that experience has taught them that a baby or toddler or even 
preschooler with a breast in his or her mouth = a quiet, happy child who is not creating a 
nuisance.  

I think the Delta nurse-in is probably called for, mostly because it was only after a flood 
of email that they caved in an issued a statement repudiating the flight attendant's 
behavior and affirming their passengers' right to breastfeed.  

And one additional thought regarding Rosa Parks.  Ms. Parks was an activist who made a 
conscious, premeditated decision to defy segregation laws.  She knew the consequences 
she would likely experience and was instrumental in organizing the Montgomery bus 
boycott.  When people say the mother on the Delta/Freedom flight was "too Rosa Parks,"  
or, as I've seen, "spoiling for a fight,"  I am a bit horrified.  This mother, like Rosa Parks, 
is politically aware, and, like Rosa Parks, chose to assert her right to do something that 
should be inalienable to her.  

We don't need to cast this young mother, or Rosa Parks, as a politically innocent female 
who was simply trying to meet a need.  Her actions are made more meaningful, really, 
by the fact that they were inspired in part by principled commitment to a just society.

Kerry Ose

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