National Breastfeeding Month: Don't Hide It

Lone Star Ma's final theme for the last week of National Breastfeeding Month is Breastfeed In Public.  One of the reasons that our culture is so unfriendly to breastfeeding in the United States is because we are largely unfamiliar with it and people tend to fear that with which they are unfamiliar.  People see babies being fed with bottles all the time, so bottle feeding = normal to them.  People rarely ever see people breastfeeding an infant so breastfeeding = strange to them.  There is not really any way to change this unless people start seeing breastfeeding all around them as a routine part of their daily lives as humans who are out and about in public places.

Texas law protects a woman's right to breastfeed in any place where she would otherwise be allowed to be.  Here is the law:

"HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE


TITLE 2. HEALTH


SUBTITLE H. PUBLIC HEALTH PROVISIONS


CHAPTER 165. BREAST-FEEDING




SUBCHAPTER A. BREAST-FEEDING RIGHTS AND POLICIES


.....

Sec. 165.002. RIGHT TO BREAST-FEED. A mother is entitled to breast-feed her 

baby in any location in which the mother is authorized to be.

Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 600, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 28, 1995."

And here's a tip:  we all know stories of nursing mothers who got chucked out of public places and directed to bathrooms.  Guess what?  I was definitely the boldest mother I ever encountered in terms of nursing in public (all the public places!) and people never, ever hassled me in public, including in places where other mothers got hassled plenty.  Why?  

I had the look of someone with whom they did not want to tussle.  

Practice bold, assertive eye contact and be confident in your right to be nursing your baby where you are.  It may not work everywhere, but it will work a lot better than being timid about it will.

Now, get out of the bathrooms and take your baby out in the sunshine, Mamas (Vitamin D and all that)!  Happy National Breastfeeding Month!