Proud to be a nursing mommy

CCW has kindly taken on the screw-ups of the universe who continue to insist that the primary purpose of breasts is to be sexual playthings and not for nurturing small human beings.

Confession: I did not even notice the cover picture of Babytalk magazine when I picked it up at the pediatrician's office. I pay dues to La Leche and get New Beginnings magazine, an LLL publication, so pictures of women breastfeeding aren't exactly a new thing for me. What caught my eye was the print teaser "Special Report: Why Women Don't Nurse Longer." Somewhere inside the magazine the editors ask for comments on the cover, and then it slowly occurred to me that some Would Not Like It.

So, basically, we're all between a rock and a hard place. Everyone--the government, the formula companies, the American Academy of Pediatrics--pays lip service to the fact that nursing is the healthiest and best choice for babies, but women are still completely unsupported in their efforts.

If I had relied on help solely from the hospital breastfeeding educators, I wouldn't have made it. Not by a longshot. And this is a small hospital that still delivers upwards of 2,000 babies a year. Inexcusable.

Six weeks of maternity leave is the bare minimum to get nursing really on the right track, but then there are the issues of pumping at work. The Babytalk article reports that 90% of working mothers stop nursing before six months. This is SHAMEFUL for the American workplace. And maybe why women who have the option to stop working--even at the expense of their finances--and put their babies first for a while, do it. Not to waste their educations or their minds, as the pundits would have you believe.

Protections for nursing in public isn't offered in every state, but the fact that it has to be protected at all is backwards.

Honestly, it mostly makes me sad. I've said it before. But what makes me furious is that women are ashamed to be doing such an amazing thing! At our house, people are welcome to nurse in the living/dining room during a shabbat meal. (When we have company I actually retire to the couch instead of nursing at the table like I'd do if we were alone.) But nine times out of ten people will excuse themselves and nurse in the kids' room.

I've been very open about the fact that I am still nursing Miss M, that I did it while pregnant with AM, etc. At least three times in recent months, moms with toddlers of similar age have confessed (literally sotte voce) that they are still nursing. "Just once a day." "Just twice a day." "Once every other day." As if I need their justification? Because they think it's wrong? Icky? That they are creating sexually confused miscreants? I don't get it.

It's almost August, which is breastfeeding awareness month. I think I am finally going to buy us some T-shirts from Breast or Bust or Cafepress. (What I really want, though, is a shirt that says "I breastfeed, and I blog.")

It's time to put the shame to bed. Permanently.

Breasts are for breastfeeding. The End.