This came across my desk today. After I calm down I will be e-mailing this author - hope others will also! --Stacey Thebodo [log in to unmask] http://www.macon.com/mld/dailynews/news/opinion/12683568.htm Posted on Mon, Sep. 19, 2005 Christine M. Flowers | LACTOSE-INTOLERANT THE OTHER DAY, I was counseling a client on her legal options when, without pausing to ask if I minded, she lifted her blouse and began to breast-feed her infant daughter. Taken aback and not wanting to interrupt the child's meal, I guided the consultation to a swift conclusion. There would have been no problem had the client asked if she could excuse herself and take the child to our bathroom or to a vacant office. What irritated me was the assumption that her right to nurse the infant trumped any obligation on her part to be courteous and ask, "Do you mind?" I would never presume to tell someone what they could do in their bed, in their bathtub or at their dinner table. But what I expect and demand is that people not force their own militant preferences on me in public places. I actually started this piece at least three times, searching for an inoffensive way to say it. There was the sensible, statistic-driven approach that emphasized the overwhelming health benefits of breast milk. Too safe, I decided. There was the acknowledgment that nursing was a unique form of love, representing the eternal bond between mother and child. Too cliched, I thought. There was even an attempt at humor, as in "I really need to get this off my chest." (Who was it that told me puns were the indication of a deficient mind?) But the only way to say it is boldly and without apology, girding myself for the onslaught of criticism from the La Leche activists: Women shouldn't breast-feed wherever they choose. If I'd said, "Men shouldn't urinate in public," it's unlikely that anyone would vociferously object. But I feel the backs stiffen and the claws unsheath at the mere suggestion that nursing is a private affair. Infants are magnificent creatures. While certain specimens may eventually turn out to be unpleasant (e.g., the ones who develop into adults like Paris Hilton and Michael Moore), the consensus is that they bring joy and hope for the future. Without them, in fact, there would be no future. So it is important for us to do whatever we can to ensure their survival. At a minimum, they need to be fed. Newborns have a lot of time on their hands since they don't hold down jobs, drive or fret about the state of the world, so eating becomes disproportionately important to them. They crave nutrition on an hourly basis, regardless of where they might be. For nursing infants, "appetizer-entree-dessert" is wherever mommy happens to be when the urge strikes. So unless nursing mothers agree to be trapped in their homes for the first year of junior's life, they sometimes have to breast-feed in public. That's not the problem. Women should be permitted to nurse unobtrusively in restrooms and other public places specifically designated for the purpose. The craving for nutrition and the ability to satisfy it are natural and beautiful, as are a woman's breasts. The problem arises when an essentially private activity becomes part of the public domain. There are, of course, ways to accommodate both modesty and utility, allowing breast-feeding in certain areas and prohibiting it in others, just as we do with any activity that encroaches on the public domain, like smoking and playing loud music. To those who resent the implication that breast-feeding might be as annoying as cigarettes and blaring hip-hop, I say that bared breasts can make some people very uncomfortable, even when a child is attached to one of them. There is also the option of using a breast pump to express the milk at home, and then using a bottle in public. This way, the child gains all of the benefits of mother's milk while society is spared the sight of a human Playtex nurser. When I mentioned this to a friend, she looked at me in horror and said, "But then people would think I was feeding my child formula!" It was as if I'd accused her of being Jim Jones on a Kool-Aid jag. That seems to be the problem with many nursing mothers - it's more about the image than about the child. And at the risk of sounding deficient, it feels good to get that off my chest. Christine M. Flowers is a lawyer. E-mail [log in to unmask] ------------- *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html