Strollerderby : breast feeding in public

Things You Should Never Say To A Nursing Mother

Brett Singer — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:30:00 GMT

For most of these, we'll assume that you are speaking to your significant other, unless otherwise indicated.

- “Can I get a squirt of that?” The answer is no. If you're desperately curious about the taste of breast milk, try some that the mother of your children has expressed into a bottle.
- Two words that should never go together: “Tittie milk.” Not funny. Trust me.
- “How far can you squirt that stuff? Can you hit this cup on the shelf? How about if I move it closer? Honey? What are you doing with that hammer? OW!”
- “You and the baby are being really loud. Can you do that someplace else? I'm watching TV.”

And here are a few things not to say to a woman you don't know if you see nursing in a public place:

- “Ew! Gross!”
- “Niiice.”
- "Hey baby. Get it? Hey... baby...?" (It's not funny. I know you think its funny. But it's not.)
- A blank stare.
- A lascivious stare.
- Any sort of stare at all.

Anything to add? Remember – it takes a village.

image: Flickr

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Babies R Us tells breastfeeding mother to get out

Brett Singer — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:30:00 GMT

A reader sent us a link to this post on Consumerist. Basically, a woman shopping at a California Babies 'R' Us tried to use a nursing chair, "for its intended purpose, she was told that she was not allowed to breastfeed on the sales floor." Apparently, this is illegal under California law. Something similar happened in New York at the Times Square Toys 'R' Us; that time, the ACLU got involved, since the New York law is similar to the one in California – breast-feeding anywhere, anytime.

I admit to being a little torn on this one. While I agree that all companies should follow the law, and that it's not unreasonable for a woman to breastfeed in public, I've also seen situations where I felt like it was a bit inappropriate. I can't imagine anyone wanting to nurse a baby at the Toys 'R' Us in Times Square, for example. (I also can't imagine anyone wanting to spend any time there at all, so maybe I'm the wrong person to ask about this.)

The comments on the site are similarly divided. The first one was 'disemvoweled', but I think it used to say something like, "So, they provide a room and that still isn't good enough?" along with something about "self-righteous parents." ('Disemvoweling' means the vowels were removed; this is the preferred fate for potentially offensive comments on many sites. If you don't know what that means, consider yourself lucky that you have better things to worry about; if you want to know, click here.) Not very nice, but does he/she/it have a point?

A more measured approach is shown in this comment: "Personally, I would use the room. I don't see the point of breastfeeding in public when a private room is available. It's not that breastfeeding is 'dirty' or 'wrong'…[but] it's not something I'd like to share with other people who could gawk because of their own insecurities."

And the award for the best comment on that post goes to: "First rule of Fight Club is: Don't get the La Leche League on your ass."

Now, obviously the employee was, at best, a jerk, and at worst was violating the woman's civil rights. (I'm not a lawyer so forgive me if I've used that term incorrectly.) But is the woman in the article going a little too far as well? What do you think?

source: Consumerist, via a reader (thanks!)

image: msnbc (not related to this story, its from a "nurse-in" in 2006)

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Babble Talk: My Body, My Pump

editors — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:31:00 GMT

Kate Tuttle writes about her experience as an exclusive breast feeder, albeit with the bottle in Breast-Free Breastfeeding. Judging by the comments from all of you, this happy medium of pumping exclusively does seem to make a lot of you, well, happy. Whether you’re a breast or formula kind of gal the reigning sentiment seems to be, whatever works for you sister! However, Tuttle’s piece also struck a nerve on the topic of hyper-sexualizing breasts in our society. Inevitable? Or manageable? And a few commentators shared your ‘extreme pumping’ stories for our entertainment. Apparently some of you are not letting a little thing like pumping get in the way of road trips to Coachella. Impressive ladies. Very impressive. - April Peveteaux

StrollerDerby Finishline: Of Breasts and Judgment and Pretty Pretty Mamas

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 16:02:00 GMT

Strollerderby rocked this week. From tips on picking a preschool, to laughable pregnancy tees, to mom frump we've got you covered.

Kelly wonders if we're all a bunch of narcissists

Karen helps us understand the joys of chicken on a stick

Alisyn ponders the challenge of stay at home motherhood

Chag reminds us to leave the baby at home (when going to the 11pm movie)

The comments keep stacking up on the hospital formula ban. Join the fun!

Bloggers Whip 'Em Out in Support of Maggie Gyllenhaal

Alisyn — Thu, 10 May 2007 13:04:00 GMT

Suck it, haters!

In response to the "that's gross!" and "cover up!" shit-talkers who swarmed StrollerDerby yesterday to comment on Sarah's post about Maggie Gyllenhaal nursing in public, bloggers are putting their best breasts forward in solidarity with the actress, and nursing mamas everywhere.

A virtual nurse-in! God, I love the internet.

The Queen of Spain is, like many of us, sick and tired of the breastfeeding-in-public debate. She says, "It’s just a boob... JUST A BOOB. I’ve written about this issue so many times now... I do not know what else to say to all you asshats that seem to think my tit exposed to feed my child is baaaaaaaaaaad. You are also forcing me to resort to drastic measures."

Karl followed suit (man-boob solidarity, is, indeed, needed and appreciated), as did Violet, Summer, Keri, and others. If I had a photo of myself nursing (my toddler! gasp!), I'd post it, but I can't find one that shows enough boob.

I'm not interested in opening up a new debate on public breastfeeding here, I think we had enough of that yesterday. I'm just happy to see so many people storming the blogosphere in support of it. So cool. Breast feeders of the world, unite!