PDB…Public display of breastfeeding
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- August
- 1
If you happened to be on a Brooklyn-bound A train in the city today, you may have noticed a group of breastfeeding mothers and supporters, collectively known as the New York City Breastfeeding Promotion Leadership Committee, riding the rails educating the public on the benefits of mothers milk and on womens’ rights to breastfeed.
The annual “Subway Caravan” was formed in 2004 after a transit cop issued a ticket to a young woman breastfeeding her child. According to this group, the “fear of public reaction to breastfeeding is still cited by women as a reason why they are reluctant to breastfeed.”
As a mom who breastfed her daughter for her first six months of life—whether on a park bench or in a mall—I never knew there were any laws ANYWHERE saying you couldn’t do so. And quite frankly, that’s just plain wrong. How can you equate nourishing your child to indecent exposure?
I understand there should be a level of discreetness when engaging in a breastfeeding session—I always carried around a blanket or large shawl for such excursions—but banning it in some public areas should not be happening in this day and age. Hey, that’s just my ahhmm, humble opinion. Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?
This entry was posted
on Friday, August 1st, 2008 at 2:53 pm by Marcela Rojas.
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I nursed both my kids in public, at church, at a funeral, at the beach, at the pool, park, mall. Why this is still an issue today puzzles me, too. I always did it discreetly and what no one ever tells you is that when properly done, most people don’t even realize your nursing.
Sorry I missed the caravan of nursing…I’d have cheered them on!
Same here.
I’ve often wondered what it says about our culture that we sexualize, and in some cases criminalize, the feeding of an infant.
Hopefully my two daughters will look back in genuine puzzlement that this was an issue at all, let alone one that required public protest.
I’ve nursed both of my children in all sorts of places- anywhere I was, and they needed feeling, they were fed. I only received a comment form an old lady at McDonalds- she was appalled that I was nursing (discreetly, of course) there. It is a shame that people have issues with breastfeeding.