Take That, Toys R Us: Babies Get Breastfed on Broadway

I don't eat lunch in a petco either.

At Nino's Pizza in Carroll Gardens I witnessed smug couple make out while woman was breastfeeding. That was nasty.

Who the fuck are these prudes who are telling women not to breastfeed in public? If I made the laws, I would outlaw those special bras and bibs that allow women to breastfeed with minimum breast exposure; I'm sure that's somehow bad for the baby.

Private property, R.I.P.

Fuck children and all the crap that has to go with them. This is why I got a damned vasectomy...have a child, move to the suburbs...simple as that really.

#7, new babies can need feeding sometimes as often as once every two or three hours. you comment suggests you don't have kids.

To be fair, when I go to Toys R Us with my little cousins, I kind of hope I don't run into someone's exposed boob.

"have a child, move to the suburbs.." So if someone is breastfeeding in public but it's a suburb, it's ok? What about the outer boroughs, is that all right with you?

who the hell wants to see a baby attached to someone's tit in a public place? get a damn breast pump and bottle feed your kid if you're in public.

I was flipping through a silly magazine (health) and this fact popped out on the last page: "24 — The percent increase of sexual desire in childless women when exposed to the scent of women breast-freeding." For all those guys who are afraid that all those breast-feeding moms in NYC are somehow ruining their chances of kicking it with the ladies…

Babies R Us is in cahoots with the compnays that make baby formula. Don't buy stuff when you can get it for free!!!

"At Nino's Pizza in Carroll Gardens I witnessed smug couple make out while woman was breastfeeding. That was nasty."

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

it'd be better if she were drunk, though.

these store employees should be schooled on basic natural occurances.

Having sex or pooping are natural occurrences, too... but I wouldn't do it in the middle of a Toys R Us or a Petco.

Rule of thumb, if you're doing something that involves bodily fluids, do it somewhere private.

more titties = more gooder

Go mommies.

I'm as revolted by SUV strollers and smug parents as anyone, but I can't believe people are so uptight about this shit in 2006. It's certainly not the kid's fault it has to eat all the time.

A chick's boobies popping out of a tight belly shirt in public = OK. A mother breast feeding a child = icky! Boobs should only be exposed for male sport! Right guys? Raise your Solo cups of beer. WHOOO!

Excellent.

As far as the bodily fluids "rule," does this mean I have to hide every time I blow my nose or feel a sneeze coming on?

Cheryl (and other users of faulty logic):

Children see more breasts on any given day then they might potentially see in the one second it takes for a mother to latch the baby. Go look at billboards, window displays, fashion magazines, movie, TV shows, poster ads, the girls on the street corner, the girls on the bus, the woman in line at the store. Heck, tonight I saw a woman in barely a bra. Once the baby is nursing, no breast is exposed unless one if looking really hard. Most of time you can't even tell (unless the woman is covering up with a silly bib or blanket).

So here is some advice, stop looking.

People need to be more concerned about themselves and stop worrying about what others are doing. And start teaching their children (and apparently themselves) acceptance, understanding and compassion. And how about giving our kids a healthy respect for and understanding of breastfeeding and infant nutrition? Failing to do this and pushing formula feeding has created generations of uninformed people who are squeamish at the most natural act and freak out. How this very normal activity got so far misunderstood is insane to me.

A baby needs to eat. If a formula feeding woman can give her baby her method to feed her child, then the breastfeeding mother can breastfeed hers. Breastfeeding is extremely beneficial to the mother and the child.

TOM, "Rule of thumb, if you're doing something that involves bodily fluids, do it somewhere private."

Kissing, eating, drinking, spitting, sneezing. All of these involve bodily fluid so this is a pretty terrible rule of thumb.

Comparing it to going to the bathroom is an extremely poor analogy. Ridding your body of waste is not the same thing as an infant being hungry and needing to eat. I have the control to hold my waste in until I am in an appropriate venue. It is generally accepted that going to the bathroom is a personal act (though many people do it in front of others all the time, sometimes directly in front and others not even 3 feet away), but many people have no problem with it. It seems to only be the childless, the unexposed, the puritanical and the idiots who really freaking give a rat's ass.

Who cares? Apparently, everyone has an opinion. The correct question to ask here is; WHY does everyone care SO much?

Typical American posturing; all of us have to stick our noses in other peoples PRIVATE buisness.

To the Mom's who breastfeed in public, use common sense, Cover up, do you really want these twisted, neo-puritanical perverts, seeing your breasts?

To the insensitive and offended on lookers comparing breastfeeding to going to the toilet or asking if you can suck your girlfriends breasts in public. GROW UP, & MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS., OR better yet, DON'T LOOK.

First, let's address this inaccuracy:
"Let's just quote from the original article again.

"Meyerson's mother is apparently a "high-ranking official" in La Leche League, a breast feeding support group"

staged a protest seems like entirely the right phrase. Do you think she might have exaggerated their reaction, or that she had trouble getting a protest together in less than a week?"

Ms. Meyerson did not organize the nurse-in, nor did her mother. I know this because I am one of the women who did organize it. None of the us knew Ms. Meyerson personally, although we did track her down to make sure she didn't mind us doing it.

As for whether it was difficult to organize the rally in less than a week, the answer is a resounding yes. I had a full schedule already, and the time put into it came out of my sleep time. This meant a few nights will 2-3 hours of sleep so I could draft educational materials to distribute while we were there and work on getting the word out. Honestly, we didn't do a great job, so I was very pleasantly surprised that dispite the poor circulation of information, around 300 people came. (The article stating 40 was from a reporter who was there towards the beginning, before most people had arrived.)

I am glad we did it because Toys "R" Us is now working hard to ensure that people perceive it as breastfeeding friendly, which means they have to teach their employees about the law and the rights of breastfeeding women. Since that is all we really wanted, along with an apology for Ms. Meyerson which she received in a private meeting after the rally, it was quite a success. Also, the educational aspect is very important. Leaving aside the callous, juvenille, and crude nature of some of the comments here, the sheer ignorance astounds and saddens me.

For those who are trying to be open minded and just ask that nursing women cover up, which I would have considered a reasonable request before I experienced breastfeeding, please know that it simply isn't always practical. Breastfeeding is learned, not purely instinctual. Growing up in a culture where it is almost always hidden means most of us have no clear idea what we are doing, and a few minutes of instruction by nurses or even lactation consultants, while helpful, in no way makes up for a missed lifetime of casual observation.

This means that many of us start out doing it wrong. The result is EXTREME pain for many women in the early weeks. This understandably makes a lot of women give up, depriving their children and themselves of considerable health benefits. Those who persevere often need to see what they are doing while learning how to latch the baby on correctly. That means not covering up.

As babies get older, they still need breastmilk regularly throughout the day. However, few tolerate being covered. Millions of years of evolution and the bonding nature of the activity make them want to see their mother's face. They also wiggle around, turn away for a second or two, then latch back on, etc., while nursing. This means that some minimal exposure is inevitable.

Would I rather people not see my breasts? Well, yeah. But, I will do what is best for my child, and that means nursing him whenever and whereever he needs it without scurrying off to a dirty bathroom. It also means not trying to hold something over us. So, yes, people get glimpses of my breasts. I know this is inevitable. I just hope that someday our society will be wise enough not to make a big deal out of it so women can be comfortable nursing their kids without fear of perverted idiots* trying to make it into something it isn't.

To Feed@home. Have you breastfed? Maybe not! Let's see. Some babies eat a lot. I mean they nurse, nurse, nurse. Some mothers produce more than others. ANd what gives you the right to tell new moms to stay at home? Why don't you stay at home? Matter of fact, why don't all people with sexual hang-ups stay at home. You would save the rest of us from getting high blood pressure over having to defend one of the most natural and beautiful things in life. Breastfeeding needs to be encouraged. Mothers need to be supported, not made to feel bad.