To breast-feed in public, or not to breast-feed in public, that is the question

Mom Organizes Protest Over Breastfeeding

Let’s dissect this milk-gland by milk-gland, shall we?

1. The lady had to feed her five-month-old daughter, so she went outside to the patio to breast-feed.
2. Unfortunately for her, there were people on the patio.
3. The people on the patio were offended and instead of saying something to her, they complained to management.
4. Management approached breast-feeding mama and asked her to go into the bathroom to continue feeding her child.
5. Breast-feeding mama said no, that’s disgusting.
6. Family has to leave, Mama doesn’t get to eat and is stressed over the situation at hand, therefore does not produce enough milk, baby goes to bed hungry tonight.

Great job manager of Johnny Rockets. Aren’t there enough starving children in this world? Did you really have to add to it?

Not that anybody asked me … but I have opinions about this particular topic.

*climbing on soapbox*

If your child is hungry, then feed it. There’s no sense in torturing your child because you can’t feed it. If you’re in public and that means you have to flop it out, then dear God, do it. Shoot, that’s what they are there for. God didn’t create Eve with those things to be Adam’s funbags, he created her with them so Cain could live long enough to kill Abel. Duh.

Now, this is coming from a woman who refused to breast-feed her own child in public.

But that was a conscious decision on my part. When we went somewhere, I was either stocked with a bottle in a cooler or the trip was short enough that we could get back home in time to eat. The few times I did have to feed her while we were out, I did so in the bathroom. Thankfully (for all parties involved), the bathrooms at these particular locations weren’t that bad – or at least weren’t at the moment.

But Trysh, if you support breast-feeding in public, why didn’t you do it? I’m too modest. Just because I’m too modest doesn’t mean I don’t support the action. I mean, I support my friends who are homosexual, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to leave Scott for another woman.

Now, my opinions on this whole issue being laid on the table, here’s what went wrong with the whole situation at Johnny Rocket’s:

The manager asked breast-feeding mama to take it into the bathroom because another family had children that were disturbed by it. Now, really, were the kids disturbed, or was their mom jealous because she had itty bitty titties? Let’s call a spade a spade… did she not want her kids looking, or her husband? I knew what breast-feeding was when I was a kid, and they’re going to see it sooner or later. Wouldn’t you rather them know that they have a practical purpose in life, as opposed to just objects of men’s oogling eyes?

Second, the manager said that previously he had offered breast-feeding mothers the use of his office. Odd, he didn’t offer it to her. Was it because she wasn’t pretty enough? Or because he’s a big, fat liar trying to save face? You be the judge.

I remember there was this huge hoopla in Lexington a couple years ago because the manager at Applebee’s asked a lady to cover up with a blanket while she was breast-feeding. As a result of this whole thing, Applebee’s was going to keep blankets on-hand to offer to others who breast-fed in the restaurant. I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell wouldn’t cover my baby, or myself for that matter, with some crab-nasty blanket at Applebee’s that has been touched by God-knows-how-many people and God-knows-what. I mean, eww. And I don’t know about your kids, but I know mine preferred not to be covered by a blanket while eating. (Trust me, when you have as many problems as I did trying to get your baby to eat, you don’t thwart progress by stuffing them under a nasty blanket just because Applebee’s said so.)

All the more power to women who are comfortable enough with themselves to whip it out in public.

*climbing off soapbox*

Hey, and look, I made an entire breast-feeding argument without once mentioning the “Married with Children” episode where Marci staged a protest about it in the shoe store.