Breastfeeding in Public: To Do or Taboo

Recently a seemingly innocent photograph meant to bring awareness tobreastfeeding caused a storm of controversy in the United States. Ordered by a breastfeedingawareness group called Mom2Mom, the picture was of two women in their United States Air Force uniforms breastfeeding their babies. The idea is to use the various photographs taken of these two young ladies and of other women to create breastfeeding awareness posters. These photos will then be used throughout the month of August, the breastfeeding awareness month.

Still another breastfeeding photograph currently causing controversy is the one on the recent cover of TIME magazine. This one was of an L.A. woman breastfeeding her 3-year-old son. It was created for a story in TIME about attachment parenting, but onlookers saw much more than that. What they saw was a child many considered to be way too old to breastfeed and an in-your-face mother with a what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it expression on her face.

But if all that wasn’t enough, the TIME headline asking “are you mom enough?” really incited anger. Mothers that are unable to breastfeed especially took offense to that line, but those that chose not to for other reasons were also insulted. Clearly, mothers that do not practice attachment parenting (which includes extended breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and carrying infants in slings on the body) were offended for obvious reasons. But what about the other photograph? Why did that one stir up so much controversy?

Well, it seems breastfeeding in public is a highly taboo topic in America and even in other places like the United Kingdom. And, it is also deemed taboo to breastfeed past the first year. Though the women in uniform were not breastfeeding older babies, onlookers are irate by the fact women in uniform are being depicted doing such a taboo thing, as if that somehow violates the sanctity of the U.S. military. It has been taboo for decades, even centuries. And the sad truth of it is, it is unlikely to change anytime soon. That is partly the reasoning behind creating a breastfeeding awareness month.

Though it is a topic that many assume is no longer taboo, women are still battling for their right to feed their babies in public. Because of the taboo nature of it, some mothers are even afraid to breastfeed at all. And some just try to avoid doing it in public. But, the operative word here is “try”. What happens when you are a breastfeeding mother out shopping and for one reason or another you are unable to get back home before feeding time? Any mother worth her salt would not like hearing her poor baby scream in agony because his little tummy is empty….[Click Here To Reading More]