Is it Indecent to breastfeed in public?
Breast milk is indeed the best food a mother can give her child, as it contains a great deal of hormones and antibodies that protect the child from illness. It has also been confirmed that women should breastfeed their children for at least one year before which may be along complemented with other baby food. Most women prefer to go for breastfeeding, exclusively for their babies for like four to six months.
Therefore, breast milk becomes the only food the baby can eat anywhere anytime. When mom goes out, either for work, shopping, recreation, or religious activities, she goes with her baby. When the baby gets hungry, she must feed him/her. How she does it is the issue which has plagued some many people and got people talking on the media and internet.
I was in church one day, and a woman was sitting beside me. When her baby started crying, she immediately started to breastfeed her baby without concern of who is watching and how she is doing it, revealing so much of her breast and her tummy. The sight alone was appalling. I had to quickly look away. There were a lot of people around and I particularly saw a man who flinched when he saw it. I thought to myself… Is this decent?
Why do this in public and in the church for that matter? Alternatively, why not cover up with something, or go to a hidden corner to feed your child? Hence, I decided to make research on this, and what I found out was really insightful and informative. I wanted to know if it was decent for a mother to breastfeed her baby in the public.
Everything I read thought me that feeding your child in public is lawful, just as every other adult do eat in public. But, the way it is being done is what really matters. Is it done decently or indecently? Therefore, I will discourse here on what makes it indecent.
Alternatively, why not cover up with something, or go to a hidden corner to feed your child? Hence, I decided to make research on this, and what I found out was really insightful and informative. I wanted to know if it was decent for a mother to breastfeed her baby in the public. Everything I read thought me that feeding your child in public is lawful, just as every other adult do eat in public. But, the way it is being done is what really matters. Is it done decently or indecently? Therefore, I will discourse here on what makes it indecent.
What the Law Says
In spite of the fact that most people still get offended when a woman breastfeeds in public, the law in almost every country, still upholds that mothers are lawfully allowed to breastfeed their babies in public. So many articles and news flying in the internet about mothers breastfeeding their babies in public.
Breastfeeding a baby in public is an issue, which has got a lot of people talking, and showing some adverse reaction towards the idea of seeing a mother breastfeeding her baby, with all her flesh and tummy exposed to the public.
An article by Verdict, gave a very analytical view of this matter. An illustration was given about a woman who boarded an airplane from New Mexico, in 2006. She was out rightly ejected mid-air from the plane because she refused the blanket that was given to her to cover up herself while breastfeeding. This woman filed a lawsuit against the airplane carriers and each of the three plane carriers who were in charge of the flight compensated her with $20,000 for damages.
What makes public breastfeeding Indecent?
What the public think about this is actually different from what the law says. Nevertheless, people have different views about this, but so many people will tell you that, in as much as this is lawful, mothers should maintain some amount of decency if they must breastfeed in public
1. It is highly indecent to expose your fleshy in public. It is inappropriate and distracting to those around you. Most adults eat in public, but not all adults eat decently in public, but the law does not prohibit them.
2. Breastfeeding your child in public can cause a man who sees you to develop a desire to lay with you. This is called sexual harassment to the male folk. When a man develops the desire to lay with a woman, if he is not able to lay with the woman who caused this, he may look for a way to ease off on some other woman. This can lead to rape issues. On the contrary, the law says that since the woman does not have the intention of inciting sexual feelings, public breastfeeding is not immoral. Nevertheless, in religious terms, the Bible stated that if your action will cause your neighbor to sin, refrain from it (Corinthians 8:13).
3. When you breastfeed your child at any time the child cries and wail for food, you are indirectly not controlling your child’s appetite. Your child will grow up to want to eat anywhere, anytime, which is not decent, and hygienic.
4. Being in public exposes you to attract germs into your body. You will sweat and contract germs from people you touch. When you breastfeed in public, you are most likely not going to wash yourself before feeding your baby. The breast itself has harbored some dirt and germs, and when you pop the breast to your child’s mouth without washing it, you pass on the germs to your child, which can cause him/her illness.
The above points have highlighted why it is indecent to breastfeed in public. Parents may as well take note and decide if it is okay for them to feed in public.
What to do when you have No Choice but to feed your baby in public
From the above findings, I discovered the things nursing mothers can do if they must breastfeed in public:
1. When going out, and knowing you will be breastfeeding your child in public, please go with something to cover up.
2. Find a secluded place where you can quietly move, to feed your baby to avoid unnecessary stirs.
Finally, there is nothing wrong in breastfeeding your child in public, you just need to do it discreetly and decently.
