3rd Push in Defense of Breast-Feeding

This is the name of the article that was in today's Midlands section of the newspaper here in Omaha, Nebraska.

The article can be found here. I'm not at all upset with the writer of the article. I'm upset with Nebraska's outlook on breastfeeding.

The craziest line that caught my attention: 

"There would also be the mother feeding her child in an out-of-the-way corner of Joslyn Art Museum who was told to go into the bathroom instead.

The irony? She was sitting next to a statue of a bare-breasted woman." -Article Written By Martha Stoddard WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

I would have loved to tell that security guard, or worker at the Joslyn to go eat their lunch in the bathroom!!!!! It ticks me off! A place that I recommend my college art students to go is as closed minded as that! 

Another few lines from the article: 

"Nebraska is one of only two states without legal protection for the practice.
Iowa has had a law that protects breast-feeding for a decade. Most states have laws like LB 197. Some merely exclude breast-feeding from public indecency laws."  -Article Written By Martha Stoddard WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

What's supposed to be natural and healthy is shunned here. I get so annoyed that we live in a society where many shun breastfeeding. We are as a society more open minded about same sex marriage, equal rights with race, but we're going backwards with breastfeeding. It used to be ok to nurse in public. 

The lines I did like from the article:

"Breast-feeding helps protect infants from ear, respiratory and urinary tract infections and from diarrhea. It reduces the chances of developing asthma and protects against sudden infant death syndrome.

Because babies breast-fed for six months are less likely to become obese, it's a key strategy in the battle against childhood obesity.

And it helps mothers return to pre-pregnancy weight and reduces the risk of breast and ovarian cancers, Wilwerding said."

But they end that with a negative by saying:

"Yet health officials say not enough women breast-feed, and that of those who start, not enough continue it.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75 percent of mothers start out breast-feeding. But after six months only 43 percent are continuing, and only 13 percent of babies are exclusively breast-fed." -Article Written By Martha Stoddard

Maybe if society would be more open minded to breastfeeding, those numbers would go up!

I'm in the 13 percent. I had two babies get major infections, one had ear infections. I was nursed exclusively and have major allergies and had ear infections. But I'm glad I breastfed my boys! There was a bond that cannot be explained to someone that has never had that experience.

I didn't nurse my boy's in public because they were what I called, "Active Eaters." They never would have a blanket on top of them. I had to see that I was latching right with both of my children, so I didn't like being covered up either. 

I want to thank places that have Mother's Rooms:

Von Maur

Baby's R Us

There are many more places out there that support breastfeeding mom's and babies I'm sure. These places are the first that came to my mind. Thank you for being supportive towards breastfeeding!