I think breastfeeding ANYWHERE is great! I would not be a lactation consultant if I did not think so. Now, having said that, I do think that you can have some tact about it and a woman does not need to expose herself in order to feed her baby.

It is against the law for anyone to be asked to leave a public facility for breastfeeding.

I think so, but don't quote me. I do know for sure in NC. We have little business cards that moms can carry with them that state the law. They can pull that out of their purse and show it to the rude person asking them to leave!

I just wish breastfeeding was not so taboo! It's so frustrating to go into help a new young mom and she won't even touch her own breast. It is really hard to breastfeed without touching yourself!

nursecranny51 says ...

When I had my first son... back in the 70's, breastfeeding was making a comeback.  Unfortunately for me one time, my husband and I were at a restaurant, sitting in the back.  I did not expose myself, I had a shawl thrown over my shoulder.  To my amazement, the manager came up to me and said, Ma'am, if you are breastfeeding, you will have to leave.

 

I am not at all opposed to breastfeeding, especially discreetly in public.  Things have come a long way maybe?

 

 

Wow...........this happened to me too, except not at a restauant, a MOVIE THEATER.  This was in '83.............why was that goob looking at me anyhow?  It was dark, and he flashed a flashlight on us!!  It  was so emabarrasing.   

I breastfed all three of my children, and if I have any more, I will do the same, unless physically incapable of doing so.  I think it's so shameful that Americans (in general) look at breastfeeding as a lewd or sexual act!  Why else would it be considered such a disgrace?  There are foreign countries that have nude beaches, and bathhouses...without having a huge scene...it's just a acceptable part of everyday life..

Squirmals...it's wonderful to hear that you felt so comfortable nursing your child whereever, and whenever she was hungry...this is how it should be EVERYWHERE (U.S. soil included), but we've so very unfortunately sexualized the human body...and it's very difficult to turn the tide back.

DaMomb says ...

just a nice to know FYI...

 

Health professionals and public health officials promote breastfeeding to improve infant health. Both mothers and children benefit from breast milk.  Breast milk contains antibodies that protect infants from bacteria and viruses.  Breastfed children have fewer ear infections, respiratory infections, urinary tract infections and have diarrhea less often.  Infants who are exclusively breastfed tend to need fewer health care visits, prescriptions and hospitalizations resulting in a lower total medical care cost compared to never-breastfed infants.  It also provides long-term preventative effects for the mother, including an earlier return to pre-pregnancy weight, reduced risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer and osteoporosis. According to the New York Times, approximately 70 percent of mothers start breastfeeding immediately after birth, but less than 20 percent of those moms are breastfeeding exclusively six months later. It is a national goal to increase the proportion of mothers who breastfeed their babies in the early postpartum period to 75 percent by the year 2010.  

• Forty states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands have laws with language specifically allowing women to breastfeed in any public or private location (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Wyoming).  exempt breastfeeding from public indecency laws (Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming).  and Puerto Rico have laws related to breastfeeding in the workplace (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming).  exempt breastfeeding mothers from jury duty (California, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon and Virginia).  have implemented or encouraged the development of a breastfeeding awareness education campaign (California, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Vermont).


• Twenty-five states and the Virgin Islands
  


• Twenty one states, the District of Columbia
  


• Eleven states and Puerto Rico
  


• Five states and Puerto Rico
  


• 
  Virginia allows women to breastfeed on any land or property owned by the state. 

Several states have unique laws related to breastfeeding. For instance,

• The state of Virginia allows women to breastfeed on any land or property owned by the state.  Puerto Rico requires shopping malls, airports, public service government centers and other select locations to have accessible areas designed for breastfeeding and diaper changing that are not bathrooms.


• At least two states have laws related to child care facilities and breastfeeding.  Louisiana prohibits any child care facility from discriminating against breastfed babies. Mississippi requires licensed child care facilities to provide breast-feeding mothers with a sanitary place that is not a toilet stall to breast-feed their children or express milk, to provide a refrigerator to store expressed milk, to train staff in the safe and proper storage and handling of human milk, and to display breast-feeding promotion information to the clients of the facility.


• 
  California requires the Department of Public Health to develop a training course of hospital policies and recommendations that promote exclusive breastfeeding and specify staff for whom this model training is appropriate.  The recommendation is targeted at hospitals with exclusive patient breastfeeding rates ranked in the lowest twenty-five percent of the state.


• 
  Maryland exempts from the sales and use tax the sale of tangible personal property that is manufactured for the purpose of initiating, supporting or sustaining breastfeeding.


• 
  California, New York and Texas have laws related to the procurement, processing, distribution or use of human milk.

Updated August 2008

I am sad to see that idaho isn't on many of  these lists. We are on the jury duty thing, but it isn't upheld. When I was in jury duty a woman tried to use that as reason to get out of it and the judge said no. I was able to postpone mine because they had me scheduled for the entire month of november and my daughter was due on nov. 10th. So they moved me to dec. I had jury duty less than two weeks after she was born cause she didn't want to come out until the 21st. Kinda sucked.

It is so good to hear those that stuck with it. I tried so hard to breastfeed my daughter and didn't have enough and eventually I just ran out all togehter. The lactation consultant told me to start pumping. By the end I was getting maybe 2 oz combined every three hours. I was heart broken. But at least she had some so she got some of the benefits. What was crazy though was even though nothing else would come out I still got so painful and swollen when I stopped I could hardly stand it. The doc said it was normal?

My incident happened in 1979.  I was completely covered, and no one would have known the difference.  Also, my husband and I were sitting at a table way in the back in a corner...

I had my 1st child when I was 22.  I chose to breastfeed and the nurses were suprised b/c they said many young mothers were more likely to bottle feed.  This was in 2001.  I only breastfed her for a month cuz I had to go back to work and wasn't sure how I could manage pumping at work.  When I had my 2nd child, I was all for breast feeding cuz I wanted to make up for cutting my 1st child short.  I planned on breast feeding the entire year.  Well I lasted 1 week.  I got some sort of flu and went completely dry, upstairs and downstairs.  I called the hospital to talk to one of the nurses and just burst into tears when she picked up.  She said I could still breast feed or pump until I felt better.  I only had a manual pump for 1 breast that I got from the hospital.  It was frustrating cuz I would pump for 30 minutes and only get half an ounce.  My 1st child was a toddler and I was so exhausted with being up all night with the baby and all day with the toddler, I didn't sleep.  My hubby had to go back to work so I tried to really be on top of the kids.  If I ever have another baby, I really want to breast feed as long as I can.  Aside from the physical benefits, it promotes bonding and I think that is so important in the developement of the baby. 

Its funny cuz my 2nd child is very attached to me and at 5 yrs old she has this obsession with my breasts.  She knows that babys breast feed and she said that she wants still feed off of me.  I wonder if she senses my feelings of guilt for only breast feeding her for a week.  I don't speak about it so I know that she isn't just repeating what I am saying.  I explained to her that we are beyond that point and there are other ways for us to bond.  I'm glad I came across this thread.  I hope our society can learn to accept that breast feeding is a totally normal way to feed our babies.  I'm sorry that guy said that rude comment to you SnowbunnyRN.  There's nothing worse than some perv making you feel uncomfortable about the way you choose to feed your child.  I probably would have cursed him out like a sailor but that's just me.

Oh yeah,  I am ALL for breast feeding in public.  If someone doesn't like it, look the other way!

I always found that the key to pumping was less in the actual type of pump, but more in the bodies natural let down reflex.  The milk would just pour from both breasts when it happened.  It looked like a squirt gun!  I had such a strong let down reflex, that smells, and babies crying and just relaxing caused it.  I had to wear pads in my bra the entire time.