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How could something so natural become something so looked
down upon? I am talking about breastfeeding in public. Having
just had a baby myself, I would feel bad if I needed to feed my
son and I didn't have any formula with me or any bottled milk.
I would feel like people would be judging me or even give me
grief because I had to feed my son. Would you rather hear him
fuss and cry or see that he was being taken care of? I personally
don't like hearing my son cry so I would want him to be content.
When you go into the baby section of stores these days, such
as Walmart, you have an entire aisle dedicated to baby food and
formula. There are several different kinds of formula for babies
with sensitive tummys to formula for premature babies. Don't
get me wrong, it is great that we have all these options for many
different babies, because no two babies are the same. Some
women are not able to breastfeed their child because they are
unable to produce milk, so formula needs to be supplemented
instead. But for those able to breastfeed, it becomes a shame to
do so.
Women have become a sexual object and therefore the breast
has become sexualized. Since breasts are primarily thought of
as a sexual body part, the idea of women breast-feeding infants,
especially in public but also in private, is looked at as being abnormal
and upsetting. My son was born early and had trouble
eating so he had to have a gavage. After that we mostly fed him
by bottle because breastfeeding took too much energy out of
him. He is used to being bottle fed; sometimes breastfeeding is
a challenge for him.
For those women who can or are breastfeeding, I applaud you.
We need to get back to that time when this was just normal because
it won't be going away. Babies will come and when they
do, they will be hungry.