Date: Mon, 13 Nov 1995 17:25:37 -0700 (MST)
From: AW_BRATT-AT-awc.cc.az.us
Subject: Re: Breast feeding in public


Wow--

This breastfeeding discussion has certainly brought me out of my usual
"lurk."  

I agree with the comment that the attachment is what offends people.  I've 
had strangers tell me that I should not hold my child so much.  I'm thinking
that some of the unhealthy attitudes and self-destructive behavior of adults
might have some connection with this unhealthy attitude toward infants.  

It is the connection a child feels with her/his parent that allows the child
to develop independence, not the other way around.  My daughter has always
slept with me, continues to breast-feed, yet her day care provider comments
that she is one of the more self-reliant children in the class.  So anyway,
I don't really know what all the fuss is about.

I've had strangers tell me to go to the bathroom to breastfeed (my reply:
"do you eat your meals in the bathroom?")  And I know that the common 
agreement, at least in the US, is that there is something "sick" about
sleeping with your child or breast-feeding your child.  I think that as 
new mothers, many women are encouraged to breast-feed for the nutritional
aspect, but they perhaps not taught that it is also an emotional benefit for
both mother and child.  I also think that many women who begin breast-feeding
will quit after only a week or two because of the combination of pressures.
Also, doctors will encourage supplemental feedings, claiming that the mother
cannot provide adequate nourishment, which is another encouragement against
breast-feeding altogether.  Not to mention that every new mother in the US 
receives free samples of formula in the hospital from formula companies.

Well!  That must be enough ranting.  I could go on forever...

Kirstin