From what I have read, even from this persons own postings, in my opinion this is really not about breastfeeding her child. She was out to make a social statement via her child and to gain some attention that she seems to be starved for. She speaks of her own family blog and even took a picture of her breastfeeding in the moment she was being reprimanded. I would post the link she previously posted for her blog on here, but she has apparently blocked it.
This is not the first time she has been asked to display modesty at the pool. Today, it was just as hot, and here, she is sitting outside, with a cover, giving an interview to a local TV station. Attention seeker? That does appear what it is to me. Of course, this person may say that was never the intention, however, it occurred before, and was handled accordingly and so this young mother knew the concessions being made to make both she and the other patrons confortable. No one is saying she cannot breastfeed at the pool, that is not what I took away from it at all. What was trying to be relayed was the hope that those concessions would have been enough to please the masses, but alas, it was not.
By concessions, I mean, made by the Parks Dept. but they were not enough for the mom in question. She refused to cover. Others are making comments on the boards at the newspaper website that regardless of how hot it is, a mother’s milk is still apx. 98.5 degrees while others want to provide an argument that even a receiving blanket of light cover causes the child to get hot. Really? Not if you use the blanket to drape your breast and the child’s lips and your nipple and not the entire child. It can be done, if you care enough to do so. It certainly takes far less energy to do that than to continue to ruffle feathers, upset patrons who you know may be upset and to cause a scene. Concessions were made from the previous experience with her that made it possible for her to feed in public yet display modesty. She is not willing to work with the concessions in place to enable her rights and her child’s rights to mesh with the rights of the other pool patrons.
I could not breastfeed my children due to a cyst in many of my ducts, but coached other mothers who I am birth coach to in my other job as a certified birth coach. I worked closely with the WIC Dept. and their breastfeeding experts and support this mothers right to feed in public and support this child’s right to be fed, but I also support the freedom of those who wish for the mother to display modesty.
Freedom is not always free. We understand that on so many levels. In this instant it means giving a little to get a little. It means your idea of total freedom may not be the definition of my definition of total freedom and alas, I, or you, may have to have their liberties compromised or adjusted in order to allow for concessions to give another person freedoms all their own.