When the news broke about breastfeeding being legal NOW in all 50 states, I had to scratch my head because I had no idea it was ILLEGAL in the first place!
Something so natural and pure being looked at by society in this country as something “dirty”, ‘uncomfortable”or just “tacky” is mind-blowing to me. I didn’t breastfeed my son (he didn’t latch on) but I have friends who have and my initial reaction when it happened while sitting in church was “cover yourself up”. Her response was “where should I go?” and I responded, “go to the bathroom”. Then she said, “do you eat your food in the bathroom?” BOOM! It hit me! Well, first off, I don’t eat in the bathroom because “ewh” and second, I don’t eat in the bathroom because…EWH! Shame on me!
Why would I suggest such a thing? But it happens! Mothers are turned away many times at public parks, swimming pools, restaurants and other places because we are way too conservative and uncomfortable to allow a mother to bond with her child in public. Are we too immature to accept this? In some cases, the excuse for the cover up suggestion is because our children don’t understand. Well, teach them to understand that it’s a part of life and motherhood.
Healthy Start in Pittsburgh will be hosting a series of town hall meetings starting in August that will focus on the stigmas behind breastfeeding and how we can embrace and adapt to something that is simply the most healthy and natural form of bonding for a mother and child. It’s nothing to turn your nose up to! Click here for more info.
Here is the story People Magazine is reporting:
For years, there were just two states — Utah and Idaho — that did not have laws in place to protect nursing mothers who need to breastfeed in public. But with new legislation, both states are now on board.
The bill passed in Utah with some resistance — the legislation at first stated that “A woman may breastfeed in any place of public accommodation … irrespective of whether the woman’s breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breastfeeding,” in line with the rest of the country.
But, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, Republican Representative Curt Webb thought the wording would lead to immodesty.
“This seems to say you don’t have to cover up at all,” Webb said. “I’m not comfortable with that, I’m just not. It’s really in your face.”
With the second part of the bill removed — it now just reads that women are permitted “to breastfeed in any place of public accommodation,” it passed through the state legislature with a vote of 66-5.
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