My temple welcomes breastfed babies into services.  While the Rabbi won't
allow older kids who (should) know better to misbehave, he works with and
around babies.  He says, "If kids weren't comfortable here, I wouldn't be
comfortable here."  We are all discreet, of  course, and no one ever
mentions it, except to offer help (a better chair, picking up the blanket
you dropped, etc).   AND when a baby squacks, he makes a joke or
encorporates it into whatever he is saying, ("See, even he agrees").  He
also loves it when a baby toddles up to the Bimah and climbs over to
him....So I guess he's not such a good, broad example, but he is a great
Rabbi.  I have seen very few bottles in our temple.  Maybe it's because
it's a well educated group, which has high BF rates, or maybe the mothers
who are breastfeeding know that they can keep the kids quiet enough to
make it worth bringing them.  I have reassured more than one new mom that
no one will mind if she nurses.  This is one of the reasons we chose this
temple, in our old one, many of the older members scolded new moms for
nursing in public...

Colleen Humphreys, [log in to unmask]