I could write quite a sizable list of the weirdness of on of one particular family that stayed at the retreat we stayed at in Ek Balam, Mexico. They seemed to forget they weren’t in their own backyard, letting their toddler (she looked about 3 or 4) run around the place naked. This made both my husband and me extremely uncomfortable and we were one instance away from a confrontation before they left. The worst of their offenses was at dinner, when the toddler latched onto mommy’s breast. TODDLER. I’m sorry, if your child is walking around and talking to me, they have no business sucking on your teets, especially at the friggin’ group dining table.
I actually don’t have a problem with public breastfeeding. I have an issue with the women who are “HEY, look at my BOOBS because it’s NATURAL” about it -- because seriously, there's a reason we wear clothing and undergarments and nobody needs to see that -- but discreet public breastfeeding doesn’t usually bug me. The idea of breastfeeding in general creeps me out like little else, but not so much that I’m offended. But this was just plain CREEPY.
What the hell is a three-year-old (at least) getting out of breast-feeding? This was in addition to eating the yummy vegetarian goodies cooked by the kitchen at the retreat, so it’s not like it was all the kid was eating. She had teeth, after all, so clearly she needs more than what this tiny woman’s boobs could pump out.
It was seriously horrifying to me.
4 comments:
i couldn't agree more. my husband says that if a child is old enough to ask for a meal, it shouldn't be coming from mom's boobies.
seriously though, we have a woman in our church who nurses her toddler son during almost every service. he actively paws at her shirt/bra trying to liberate his next meal. IN CHURCH! he's not quiet about it either.
clearly it's a personal choice how long to breastfeed a child, but subjecting the rest of the world to it is very inconsiderate. i'm all for breastfeeding and support women's rights to do so in public...but please be respectful of the rest of us and know that we're not all dying to see the miracle of you nourishing your babbling child up close and personal.
What you need to do in these situations (anyone caught in the headlights, as it were) is STARE at it until they wonder what YOUR problem is. Then you can say anything you like, such as "I have never seen anyone DO that before! I have HEARD about it, but I never believed it was POSSIBLE", or any serious or sarcastic comment you can think of. The key here is to prepare a variety of things to say and pick the one that seems best at the time/place. I bet OTHERS felt as you did and thought they must be the only ones "with the problem" so they didn't say anything. Oh I have a good one - say "Can I be next?"
Oh, I am with you! Discreet breastfeeding is fine in public. But the women who have the nurse ins at Starbucks and flash their boobs for all to see - how fucking obnoxious. Yeah, it's natural, and so is peeing and pooping, and having sex, but you still can't do that in public.
I am childfree as well, and yeah public breastfeeding is obnoxious if there is nothing covering up the breast area. However if you go to a hippy place like Starbucks, what do you expect? As for the three year old nursing child, I suspect that the mom is doing it so she can offload all those calories. Yes you read correctly. Some women continue breastfeeding as long as they can to help stay skinny. How messed up is that?!!
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