I was quite pleased to read about the outcome (so far) of the Houston Ronald MacDonald House story. After a meeting with higher-level administrators of RMH, the nursing mothers will be welcome to nurse in the common room, but they had to agree that they would tell others in the room before beginning that they were going to nurse, and they agreed to make an effort to be "discreet," according to their own definition of "discreet." The RMH people agreed to discuss the issue further. They would have to take it up with their board before making this new "rule" into a policy that would apply to nursing moms generally. For now it is an agreement between the two moms and the RMH. What happens in the future will depend partly upon how other parents in the house feel about what the breastfeeding families do in the common room. If a lot of people complain, it could be a problem. If just one person complains, the RMH management will explain that they support bf and ask the complainer to say more about why it's a problem for them. I like this resolution because it does respect the feelings of the other parents at RMH and gives them a chance to get into the discussion. When you analyze NIP (nursing in public) stories, there are often three interested parties involved: the mother/baby, the person in authority, and the bystander who is being "protected" by the person in authority. So, for instance, a mall security guard says to a nursing mom, "People have complained," or a disgusted mother says, "I don't want my children to see THAT!" Well, there at the RMH you have a lot of parents under stress, with children that they want to protect, and there are probably lots of things they wish their kids didn't have to see: other kids with scars or bandages or amputations or no hair or tubes sticking out of their noses. And they have to explain all this to their kids and reassure them about these scary sights. The sight of a nursing toddler might just push somebody over the edge of her or his stress quota for that day, and I think the nursing moms should be sensitive to that reality. I am all in favor of the right to nurse in public. In U.S. culture, though, it would be a new experience for most people to see toddler twins at the breast. It's only smart for the mothers to be cognizant of those other people's feelings. If the scene can unroll with civility and politeness, then that might smooth over the uneasy feelings of the observer. Chris Mulford, RN, IBCLC LLL Leader Reserve Working for WIC in South Jersey (Eastern USA) Chair, Workplace Bf Support Committee, USBC Co-coordinator, Women & Work Task Force, WABA *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html Mail all commands to [log in to unmask] To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask]) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask]) To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]