Large Fierce Mammal

Breastfeeding in public should never be considered obscene, and should be a Human Right everywhere, like it is in Nova Scotia.
Photo by {link:http://www.brynjaphotography.com/} Brynja Photography{/link}.

As a soon-to-be breastfeeding woman in Nova Scotia, the ignorance surrounding this topic has sparked my ire. This will likely be the first of many posts on the subject of breastfeeding, and today I want to focus on the lack of understanding – from ALL sides including breastfeeding mothers – what the right to breastfeed actually means.

Breastfeeding was made a Human Right under the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act in 2000. Prior to that, women had no recourse if they were told to stop breastfeeding their baby due to some over-sensitive person being offended by such a wanton display of public indecency. Breasts are designed for feeding babies. THAT IS THEIR PURPOSE. Just because someone gets titillated by the sight of a nude breast does not make it indecent. There was a time when catching a glimpse of a woman’s ankle or wrist had the same effect. There is NOTHING indecent about a woman feeding her baby, whether she uses her breast to do it or a bottle.

In researching the cases where women have been asked to leave or cover up since breastfeeding was made a right, I have found some appalling attitudes, and far too many are from women with children!! Instead of teaching your children that breasts are something to hide and be ashamed of, how about using the opportunity for a simple anatomy lesson? That woman is a mother and she is feeding her baby. Why complicate it? Why set up the next generation to be as bigoted as you are?

Some people are of the opinion that bottles should be used for feeding when in public. I will get into the why’s and how’s of breastfeeding in another post, but here’s a bit of education for you – once a bottle is introduced, it can be very difficult to encourage your baby to continue breastfeeding, because breastfeeding requires more work. Unless a baby is actively draining the milk ducts (a breast pump does not stimulate in the same way, so is not effective enough), milk supply will dry off. And once that happens, you’re stuck feeding formula. Formula is NOT as good as breast milk. It doesn’t have the antibodies, the same nourishing components that are tailored specifically for YOUR baby by YOUR body, it is simply a poor substitute to breast milk. When there is no choice, you accept that and do what you can to nourish your baby. But when the choice is there and you CAN breastfeed, you should. And you should be able to do so free of shame.

The Human Rights Act that encompasses breastfeeding protects women from being discriminated against based on gender. It also states: “Women have the right to breast-feed a child in public areas, including restaurants, retail stores and shopping centres, theatres and so forth. Women should not be prevented from nursing a child in a public area, nor asked to move to another area that is more ‘discreet’.”

I think that’s fairly straight-forward. Yet women are continually turned away in establishments by staff who ought to know better, simply because they were feeding their infant! Since this right is based on gender equality, let’s use this rule of thumb:
If you wouldn’t ask a father bottle-feeding his infant to leave or cover his baby up, leave the mother alone!!!
Simple.
Is it ok for a father to bottle-feed his baby in the restaurant? Then it’s ok for the mother to breastfeed. Is it ok for the father to bottle-feed his baby on a bench in the grocery store? Then it’s ok for the mother to breastfeed. This is about feeding an infant, not about public displays of lewdness and indecency. Try not to be so sanctimonious.

A few years ago, a local resident was asked to leave the Bridgewater Superstore while she was nursing. She sat down on one of their benches, behind her grocery cart, but apparently customers had an issue with such a hideous act of a baby being fed that they made complaints. Worst of all, an employee of said store sided with the customers and asked her to leave! Not one of those people would have complained if it had been a man sitting there feeding his infant child by bottle.
The woman did receive an apology from the Superstore, and hopefully it taught the employees a bit about Nova Scotia’s Human Rights.

All of that having been said, some women are taking this right to feed anywhere at any time a little too far. Let’s get one thing straight – very few rights are absolute. Freedom of speech and expression, for instance, does not give you the “right” to say whatever you want to whomever you want. You can’t utter death threats; you can’t “express” yourself by destroying religious property or symbols;  hate speech against a particular ethnic group could find you in a jail cell. Likewise, the right to breastfeed anytime in any place should be exercised with some common sense, because it most certainly is not absolute!

There was an incident last month in New Brunswick, where a woman decided it was a good idea to breastfeed her child at a public swimming pool while IN THE POOL. What compelled her to do such a ridiculously stupid thing, I can’t even guess. Let’s try our rule of thumb here: would it be ok for a father to be bottle-feeding his infant while IN the pool? NO! Get out and do it on the pool deck! No food or drinks in the pool. Breastfeeding while in the pool, therefore, is also NOT OK. This is not discrimination, this is not violating the right to breastfeed. This is a clear lack of judgement on the mother’s part.

Last December, there was a more local incident, at a small jewellery boutique in a mall in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. It was Christmas Eve and a woman, wanting to breastfeed her child, asked for a chair in this little store so she could do so comfortably. The employee got the chair, but the store’s assistant manager asked her to leave. This caused quite a riot among the breastfeeding community because they felt she was wronged. As should be obvious by now, I am 100% in support of breastfeeding. And I disagree with them. Using the litmus test again: if a father asked for a chair so he could feed his infant in a tiny store on one of the busiest nights of the year, what would the reaction have been? The world is not under any sort of obligation to accommodate you so you can feed your baby! Asking to have a feeding station set up just for you, in a building that has benches and chairs everywhere, a food court, a family room off the food court, AND a very comfortable customer service area complete with couches on the lower level, is absurd! I would have told him that we do not have the space to set up a spot for him, and would have pointed him in the direction of the many, MANY options available. Same thing should apply to the breastfeeding mother.

Yes, feeding your child is important. It does not, however, obligate everyone around you to accommodate that. Let’s remember this crucial point: the right to breastfeed is about EQUALITY. It’s about being able to feed your child in comfort where ever you are without being told to cover yourself up or having to run off to a public washroom to soothe the sensibilities of others. It does not give women special dispensation to be assholes.

If there is a place to sit comfortably and feed your child, by all means do so, and do it proudly! Ignore dirty looks, inform any self-righteous people who feel compelled to comment on your actions that they can go ahead and exercise their right to their opinions while you will sit there and exercise your right to breastfeed your child in peace. Cover up if you want to; don’t if you or your child don’t like it. Nova Scotia has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the country. Women should be celebrated and encouraged to breastfeed, not shamed for doing so!!

Just please don’t be an idiot and try breastfeeding in absurd locations like tanning beds.