Public Breast-feeding
i am nursing my 2 year old and my partner's family finds that highly distasteful. i have been at odds with them since my pregnancy over issues ranging from my refusal to get an ultrasound to sleeping with my baby. My question is, should I breastfeed openly at holiday gatherings or be "discreet", i.e.take her to a private room to eat, just to keep the peace? My partner and I strongly believe that breastfeeding needs to be seen. to help normalize it. Thanks, For Public Display of Breasts
Dear Pro-Public Breast Feeding,
Sugarhill and Pandora will occasionally disagree on our initial advice approaches and have discussions that may seem similar to your family's discussions with you. However, after some initial disagreement on the necessity of your partner's family to get over seeing natural processes and (eek) BREASTS, Pandora came up with a very well-thought response.
I believe that the holiday season in itself can be a very a challenging time for families. It seems as though you have many hurdles and points of disagreement with your partner's family. I believe that it is wise to pick and choose your battles very carefully based not only on your personal and political beliefs, but the emotional interest of your child. I would suggest that you have a talk with your in laws where you request that all issues that they want to bring up about your child rearing practices should be done when the child is not present, the goal being that the child will feel loved and respected from all of the adults and role models in their life no matter what the ideological differences are. For this holiday, I would then suggest calling your in laws and informing them of your decision to breast feed discretely at this holiday event. This will make them aware that you are taking their feelings into consideration, that you have empathy for their concerns. This also provides the option to remind them that you still believe that shame should be removed this natural process and that you prefer to be more public when you breast feed. Will this ultimately "keep the peace" with your partner's family? Probably around this issue, but I wouldn't be surprised if some other unrelated holiday disagreement occurs. So, get grounded before you go, take a bath, remember to breathe, and good luck!
Sincerely,
P & S
