Public Breastfeeding: Legally Protected, yet Still Persecuted

Normally I don't get all political on this blog.  It's about being a parent, raising children, and trying to be a little bit more sustainable in the process.  Politics really has no place here, but when it comes to a mother's rights, maybe this is the perfect forum.

Just the other day a friend of mine posted this article.  The article is about the popular educational show for children, Sesame Street.  I'm sure most of my readers remember watching the show when they were little, if not watching it with their own children more recently.  Sesame Street has covered a good deal of topics, not just in the standard educational format, such as letters and words, but also in aspects of life.  I remember being in high school when everyone started talking about Sesame Street covering the concept of death.  In the '70s and '80s they also apparently covered breastfeeding as a topic.  While I don't remember these clips as a child, I don't doubt that I saw them with how much Sesame Street I watched.  I guess it should say something that I don't remember it because that means it didn't stand out as abnormal, strange, or uncomfortable in any way.  It must have seemed normal to me when I was a very small child.

Some time in the 1990's, Sesame Street stopped showing clips of mothers nursing.  They removed them from the show in it's entirety.  Given that the clips of women nursing showed off less skin than your average teenager, it's hard to imagine what the problem is.  It shouldn't be surprising that twenty years later mothers everywhere are calling for a return of nursing on Sesame Street.

Unfortunately, this movement has come under some opposition.  While the rights of mothers nursing in public are legally protected, it seems that nursing mothers are not protected in the media.  Facebook removed countless pictures of mothers nursing their children, as noted in this article.  Television still refuses to show images.  A picture of a baby nursing on a breastfeeding edition of of Babytalk Magazine was condemned for being inappropriate for a magazine cover, as seen here.

One would imagine that breastfeeding images would become more popular, after all, images of celebrities nursing their own babies are now featured on magazines.  Redbook Magazine had an image of a breastfeeding mother on the cover of one of their articles as far back as 1997.  The breastfeeding cover only appeared on newsstands while subscribers got a different image, but it still proves that the media doesn't see anything wrong with publishing images of breastfeeding women.  Angelina Jolie was captured by her own husband nursing their child for the cover of W Magazine.  The image is so discreet you might not even know she was nursing if you didn't look for it, or know beforehand.  This article also shows numerous pictures of nude or near nude pregnant mothers as well as nursing mothers appearing in the media.  If these covers are appearing on newsstands, then why do we have a problem with children having these images explained to them on television?  After all, they're going to see these images in newsstands.  It's not like these magazines will be wrapped in plastic and hidden away like pornographic materials.

If you think about it, there's this huge surge to encourage women to breastfeed.  WIC encourages women to breastfeed and offers a good deal of support and assistance.  Breastfeeding is all over the WIC office.  The American Academy of Pediatrics shares it's stance on breastfeeding here.  The Center for Disease Control and Prevention also lists statistics for infants that are breastfed in the United States on this page.  Their current report card shows an increase in breastfeeding.  This report lists that currently 81.9% of babies in the United States are breastfed for some duration.  By six months of age, that rate drops to 60.6%.  In other words, over half of all babies in the US are breastfed for the first six months of their lives.  Breastfeeding is everywhere, and on the rise.  This is the direct result of medical encouragement and breastfeeding being brought into the public eye.

If we want this trend to continue, for moms to do what's best for their babies, wouldn't it be best to start exposing our children to this natural, normal, and healthy behavior when they're young?  Shouldn't we be exposing children to the act of breastfeeding before they get some sexual concept of what breasts are for from television shows and movies?

More importantly, shouldn't we help our children understand that they shouldn't feel ashamed for being exposed to nursing mothers?  With rates of breastfed babies rising so significantly, it's becoming more and more likely that a child visiting with a friend may be exposed to a nursing mother.  A child at the mall or the park may be exposed to a nursing mother, especially if there is any significant gap in the ages of the mother's children.  The reality is children are going to be exposed to breastfeeding at some point in their life, and someone needs to teach them how to handle it.

For many of the children and teens I've talked to, they don't seem to have much of an opinion of images of a mother nursing her child.  Some of them think it's a beautiful bonding moment for mom and baby, but most of them just shrug and find it no different than feeding from a bottle.  At most the response I've gotten is it's "a little weird" because they haven't been exposed to it before.  If this is how children feel, then why should we be so concerned about how they're going to feel about the act?

More importantly, how are they going to feel if they are exposed to people who condemn images of women nursing, or nursing in public.  How are these children going to feel when they've got their own baby in their arms and are considering the choice of breastfed or bottle fed.  If breastfeeding is something to be embarrassed about, something that can't be talked about, which one do you think they're going to choose?

This isn't the Victorian era anymore, where people simply don't talk about those kinds of things.  Women are now encouraged to speak openly and share their experiences in pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding.  Women are encouraged to take their infants out of the house because fresh air and sunlight are good for them.  Gone are the days when new moms are cloistered away in their homes.  Life goes on, especially with women with older children.  Baby is dragged along to play dates, school events, and grocery trips.  Women are encouraged to go to support groups, and to speak to new mothers to encourage them to become educated on all options before making a decision on how they'll raise their children.

Let's face it, it's time that we see breastfeeding as an educational segment back on Sesame Street and other children's shows.  It's time we put the information out there for everyone, young and old, especially as it's the most highly recommended way to feed your baby according to medical experts.  It's time to change the public opinion and help others become comfortable with the idea of breastfeeding mothers.

Household Craziness

It's been a long couple of weeks.  There's been a lot going on, which hasn't made finding time to write any easier.  It seems like I'm not doing enough that actually relates to this blog, and that almost makes me sad.

The whole situation with my baby, he's decided to wean after all.  We got a couple good attempts at nursing back, but my milk supply was just too low and it seemed like we couldn't recover from it.  He would get upset, frustrated, and angry, and eventually he stopped coming back to me all together.  I think he just gave up.  I have to admit, I'm really sad about that.  I'd promised myself that I would keep on with nursing until he was at least two, since that's when doctors site the maximum benefit ends.  I also wanted him to choose to self-wean instead of forcing him to quit.  Well, it seems like my body made it more ideal for him to quit.  He decided he just wasn't going to do it anymore, so he was done.  My older son kind of did the same when he weaned, and with my daughter we had to quit because she and I were both starting to loose too much weight.  I have to admit, it kind of makes me feel that I failed when my friends are all enjoying far more success than I had.  In many cases, they talk about how I'm lucky to have lost the baby weight so quickly.  In my case, I honestly think losing the baby weight was what lead to my inability to continue nursing.

In other news, the littlest one has also decided that staying up all night sounds like fun.  He sleeps perfectly peacefully if he's in a room alone, but if we're in there, he wants to be awake.  He rarely is able to get comfortable sleeping on the bed with us these days.  He tosses and turns all night.  When we put him down by himself, he cries for a moment, then he pulls up his blanket and snuggles in.  I feel horrible about that too.  I'm such a big person on attachment parenting that it kills me to know he won't sleep unless I let him cry for maybe a minute.  Otherwise he just fusses, rolls around, and just seems miserable and tired.  It seems like it takes on average an hour for him to fall asleep with me, but then the slightest movement will make him wake up.  It's frustrating that he's such a light sleeper, but it's becoming more often that he sleeps more heavily on his own.  Honestly, I wish we had the space to give him his own bedroom, since he likes to sleep in the dark and his brother wants to have light.  I'm also really afraid they'll wake each other up all night.  It may just be time to transition him into sharing a room with his brother.  What can I say?  It's a really sad time of year for me.  My baby is growing up way too fast!

Vacation and Nursing Stikes

I know it's been a while since I've written anything.  Life has kind of gotten crazy on me.  I've been slacking on a lot of things I need to do.  Thankfully, we've been making a little bit of progress on a few things.

We're just getting over a nursing strike here.  My littlest was showing signs of weaning.  He's finally changed his mind.  He's decided that he wants to nurse again!  I have to admit, I was a little afraid there would be nothing left for him.  I was afraid we'd be done by requirement.

I'm not sure how much longer this will last, but at least we seem to have gotten through this slump!  I just want to give him the benefits of nursing as long as he's capable of benefiting from them.  I know he'll have to quit some time, but I've heard from doctors that they now recommend nursing until age two if possible.  That's what we're shooting for!

Successfully Escaping Soda

I think I've found a way to successfully free myself from my addiction to soda!  I had expected this goal to be far more challenging than it has been thus far.  Of course, we still are pretty early on in the year!

My need for soda all started with a lack of wanting water.  Soda is sadly cheaper than juice, which is why I've tended to gravitate towards it in my adult life.  I've tried to keep juice for the kids, but I'll be honest, I haven't exactly given positive modeling for my children when it comes to drinking water.  I shouldn't be surprised that it's a challenge to get them to drink enough water in the summer because of it.

Recently I've started recognizing that my soda consumption has been a lot of things for me, unhealthy, expensive, and a bad example for my children.  I've been telling myself for a while that I need to cut back on how much soda I drink for years.  I've even determined several times that I'm going to stop drinking it.  Of course, it's that much harder when my partner can't jump on board.  He's inclined to drink soda all the time if given the chance.

In the beginning of the year I was left with no option on soda.  I kept telling myself we couldn't afford it.  I had the case of water intended for me to bring to class, so I had plenty of water to drink.  I had to live with that for the time being.  There wasn't another option.  With all the expenses from moving, we just didn't have the money.  Of course, that wasn't entirely true, but you can make yourself believe anything if you tell yourself long enough.  Therefore, I've been able to go without soda since our first night here.

Last night I saw my tea kettle sitting on the stove and remembered I had tea!  Not only did I have tea, but I had tea that helps encourage milk supply, which is something I've needed lately.  My milk supply has dropped far more than I wanted it too, and I want to nurse as long as possible.  Many pediatricians are now saying that if a mother can manage to nurse her child until two years of age, the child will get the most benefits of it.  I have to admit, I've been barely nursing recently (due to my son's nursing strike) but anything that can help, right?  Besides, I know babies well enough to know nursing strikes don't tend to last for long.

I've got two varieties of nursing tea around here, but the only one I can find at the moment is the Yogi Woman's Nursing Support.  I know somewhere around here I also have Mother's Milk Tea, but I don't know where it is, to be honest.  They both taste the same to me, so I can only imagine that they would be completely interchangeable. I suppose when I'm done nursing I can go on to some of their other tea varieties.

It looks like tea has really been the key to kicking caffeine, at least for me, and other unhealthy habits, such as drinking soda.  I guess I have it easier than some because I don't have to face the challenge of a coffee addiction.  In truth, most of the draw to the soda is the sweetness, and something that's a change from basic, flavorless water.  Tea is probably a much healthier option than juice anyway with all that sugar!

An Unexpected Bonus for Sustainable Living

Today I managed to do something wonderful for water conservation and I wasn't even thinking about it at the time!  This has gotten me thinking about other ways I can conserve water, but I'll probably go into those later.  Until we own our own house, it's going to be challenging to conserve water in any other way than to restrict what we use.

As I mentioned earlier, my family has been having a problem with lice.  These are the evil kind that can't be killed by anything but the most drastic of measures.  We got a prescription from the doctor to handle this problem, so hopefully things were going to get better.  Today was supposed to be the great delousing day.  Hair was to be treated or shaved, sheets would be washed, soft toys put away until cleaned, and the lice problem would be gone.  This isn't the best way to spend a birthday, but at least we would be lice free!

Unfortunately, this didn't exactly go as planned, but what ever does around here.  Thinking it would be smart to review the information on the prescription before I attempted to use it, I flipped open the page from the pharmacy.  This had all sorts of useful information like preventing this stuff from getting in the eyes and nose and cautioning children to keep their eyes shut while the chemical was put in their hair.  All of that seemed simple enough.  That's when I get to the warning.  It seems that it is unknown whether or not it is safe to breastfeed while using this medication.  There is a possibility that the chemical could transfer through the skin and into the bloodstream, only to get into the milk and poison the baby.  While, in theory, this shouldn't be a problem, there is no evidence that this is safe to use while nursing.  Further, it is recommended that a woman does not use this chemical while nursing, from the information I've managed to find out.  I don't have enough milk stored to go a full day without nursing, so I wasn't going to take the risk.  Who could blame me?  Isn't the health of my baby more important than killing lice by chemical means?  That would mean I'd have to wait a week or more to store up enough milk for an entire day of feedings, and I didn't want to make my family suffer with these bugs for that long.  My hair was shaved and that was the end of it.

So where does the water conservation kick in?  Do you have any idea how long it takes me to shower now?  Hop in, soap up, rinse off, shave, and out.  I can be in and out of the shower in two minutes or less.  Normally it takes me at least fifteen because of washing my hair and all of that.  I've heard that taking a bath actually saves more on water than showering, but I think in my case, I can shower and use less water than I would in a bath.  It's going to save a lot of water!

This has more benefits than simply water conservation.  Of course, conserving water means that less waste water is being produced.  The state of Texas isn't exactly known for being water rich and droughts happen.  Conserving water is one more measure to reduce the chances of a shortage.  Then there's the financial benefit for my family.  For those who live in states that tenants pay their own water bill, you may not understand the benefit.  However, in Texas, or for most home owners, the water bill is just one more expense to add to the list.  It's one more bill draining family funds.  Therefore, if I'm taking quick showers and using less water, the water bill is lower and that money can be put other places, such as paying off my car or past debts to get us out of debt that much sooner.  Who knew the act of shaving my head would actually save me on money?  On top of that, I'm not using shampoo and conditioner right now, so the water has one less solution dumped into it and I save on the cost of shampoo and conditioner!  It may not be a huge expense, but every little bit counts.  After all, every penny saved is one more that can go towards creating financial freedom and stability for my family.

Of course, all of this resulted from yet another positive act for the environment, and for my family, breastfeeding.  Because I breastfeed, I'm benefiting my family and the environment in a number of ways.  Obviously, my son is benefiting from all the positive effects breastfeeding has on baby, like increased immunities, reduced chances of allergies, and the healthiest, most natural source of nutrition available to him.  I'm benefiting by losing the baby weight that much quicker.  My whole family is financially benefiting because breast milk is virtually free, or at least significantly cheaper than formula.  Unlike the popular claim, I say that breastfeeding is not actually free.  Most mothers consume more calories and have to take prenatal vitamins that they would not otherwise take due to breastfeeding, but the cost of an additional three hundred or so calories to the diet and prenatal vitamins in comparison to the exorbitant cost of formula is still relatively small.  There's the environmental benefit because more formula packaging isn't finding it's ways into landfills and dumps.  Breast milk comes in a natural and (eventually) biodegradable package.  For many families there are no bottles to clean and sterilize, which reduces energy and water consumption.  Even for families that do use bottles for pumping and storage of milk, unless they exclusively pump (which some do), they are still using less bottles and therefore consuming less water and energy to wash and sterilize those bottles and their pump than formula feeding families use.  Finally, there's this unexpected benefit of breastfeeding meaning the only way to rid myself of these lice is through shaving my head, which means for quicker showers and even less water consumption by my family!  Who knew that breastfeeding would end up saving me so much on my water bill every month?

What does this have to do with sustainable living?  A good deal, actually!  Breastfeeding, for example, reduces my dependence on outside sources of food for my family.  This effects my impact on the environment in many ways, everything from the after effects of the packaging to the transportation of the formula to the factory that created it.  I have my own self-sustaining milk production center right here!  That reduces the negative impact on the environment left from my family, which is, of course, better for the earth.  The more sustainable resources we use from local suppliers, the less of a pollution impact we have on our environment.  With water consumption, all the crud that ends up in the water has to go somewhere, even if it's just purified out.  That takes energy.  It takes energy to pump the water to our houses.  Especially in areas where water is limited during portions of the year, water is a valuable resource that shouldn't be wasted.  Saving water could mean there's more available for livestock and crops.  Saving water also means consuming less energy to transport the water to your home, which generally comes from unsustainable energy sources, like most conventional power plants.  Financial independence may not strike many as a step towards sustainable living, but financial independence, freedom from all debt, will help with sustainable living.  It means you need to earn more money to pay off bills and creditors.  In a day and age where most people past the age of retirement can't afford to live off their retirement funds, it's a benefit to be out of debt and planning for your future as soon as possible.  If nothing else, I don't want my kids to be saddled with my bills after I die!  I would like to leave them free and clear, perhaps with something to inherit, even if it is just my house or some land.  Being out of debt means no interest payments, which means more of my money stays in my pockets.  That means more savings, or more money that can be put into creating an even more sustainable home, perhaps a place with solar or wind power.  Everything cycles back to being a possibility to living more sustainably.

So in the end, it all started out as a frustration that breastfeeding prevented me from being able to save my hair, but what's a little vanity for a healthier means of living?  I think the benefits far outweigh the inconveniences in this case.  Who knew breastfeeding and the lice that would not die would end up leading my family to having so many benefits to push us further towards a sustainable lifestyle and more financial freedom?  Maybe it was meant to be!