i was watching the english news on this news item.....one of the mothers they interviewed mentioned another reason why they wanted to do this mass-breastfeeding event...
she was on a plane flying with her infant and as most mothers now, it is best for a baby to be sucking on something (milk, formula, pacifier) during take-off so the baby's ears will not be pressured...so she decided to breastfeed WITHOUT her shirt on. The flight-attendant came over and asked if she wanted a blanket to cover up her bare breast because other people on the plane were uncomfortable with seeing a bare-breasted woman. She declined even when the flight-attendant asked politely. The flight-attendant didn't pressure her to cover up with a blanket but did bring a blanket over and placed it on the seat beside the woman. The woman then wrote a complaint letter saying she felt insulted by the flight-attendant's act...
Even as a mother, I felt that the breast-feeding mother was over-reacting. Even she said the flight-attendant only asked once and didn't even cover her up with the blanket...all she did was place a blanket in the empty seat beside her and left. I think it's ridiculous that she would feel offended....I don't think the flight attendant did anything wrong by asking nicely and then offering a blanket indirectly.
It's like...if you are in a restaurant and some guy decided to take his pants off...if you found it offensive, you'd probably asked the waiter to ask the guy to wear his pants, right? So if another customer felt offended by a woman's bare breast, I think they should be allowed to ask nicely for the lady to cover-up or leave the establishment. It's just common courtesy that a person (or persons) should feel comfortable in a public area....it's not like they forced the mother out of H&M or off the plane. They asked nicely for her to coverup or to breastfeed in an enclosed area (change-room).
Just like what Blue said above...breastfeeding is a natural thing but so is peeing and pooping...you wouldn't do it in public if there was a washroom available, right? If you've been offered a private area to feed your child, why wouldn't you do it? It is not shameful to do..in fact, if there was a specific area to do something (like breastfeed or change a diaper), I would find it a PRIVILEDGE or a courtesy on behalf of the store for being so considerate to mothers. |