In a message dated 7/29/2003 6:40:16 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> I saw a couple, just last Sunday, bring their baby into
> church, feed him and carry him out at the end of the service without
> ever having a "skin to skin" moment.

oh, dear! this thread is really riling me up, i'm afraid i will be repsonding
to my OWN posts pretty soon! LOL
but this post reminded me completely of my 1st most traumatic encounter w/
disapproval while 'tandemstacking' my boys in public. (did you know if they
nurse together w/ the right age/size difference, they are completely stackable?
it's true! if you want to see a pic illustrating this, email me!) husband and i
took them to a deli for a late lunch/early dinner. they were 2.5 and 1 then
and really nursing very frequently -esp in new environments. now i have always
been very discreet, not out to force anyone to see any more than they want to.
i wore overalls exclusively so no extra skin showed (my very best tip for moms
of multiples concerned w/ nip! - they work better than the fanciest nursing
tops!) so we go in and sit and wait and there's this couple obviously just off
work. very professional. with an infant about 2 wks. in a carrier. at their
feet. while they talk with it on the floor beside them. baby has a runny nose
and a bottle propped on a rolled receiving blanket. mom occasionally toes the
carrier with her foot to rock the baby. of course the bottle has slipped out so
the baby continues to fuss. i watch and calculate 4 minutes for the cries to
bother her enough to look down and reprop the bottle. so i sit there, heart
wringing in my chest. and my boys decide they need to nurse (always together,
never separately). i try to offer alternative bribes until we get a booth, but
they're not having it. so i discreetly latch the little one on and enfold his
brother around him and latch him on also. being careful as always to keep my
hand over the offensive area of my breast (tho for some reason pamela anderson's
nipples peeking out all over the place are not offensive...but i know
instinctively mine ARE) while he latches, then tuck my shirt down around his mouth and
pull the overalls over to the edge of his mouth so no breast whatsoever is
exposed. so they're nursing away. and the dad notices. i see his eyes widen in
horror. he leans in and mouths to his partner/spouse "NEVER" and she looks over
and also registers shock and disgust. i'm starting to feel panicky and sort
of insectile...i try to ignore them, but they keep giving me sidelong glances.
even as their baby begins to truly wail at yet another slip of the bottle. can
you guess what happens next? my toddler must have had some strange spasm or
something b/c he reaches up and abruptly pushes my shirt up to the collarbone.
and there is my helpless breast, exposed for all to see. well, the reaction
of this couple was phenomenal and instantaneous. they whirled around almost as
if they had expected it, snatched up the wailing baby in the carrier, marched
to the register and proclaimed loudly they were taking their business to a
place that had rules about decency and common courtesy. something about managers
asking ppl who had to expose themselves like that to do it in the bathroom. i
don't know why tears of humilation in my eyes kept my ears from working very
well. then they huffed out. i was really traumatized, i felt like a worm. it
was my 1st real taste of disapproval from complete strangers. but i still wonder
how their baby is doing and if she had anyone at all try to help her with
bfing.
~jacqui gruttadauria, whose husband is a nationally certified car seat
inspector that trains other police and fire depts as well as hospitals in how to
properly install them and who also used britaxes since birth and therefore
slinged or carried her infants ~

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