I took Sugarplum and Doodle out for lunch yesterday.\u00a0 Nothing fancy, just the type of place where you order at the counter and they bring your food to the table (I had a BOGO coupon, no leftovers and no will to cook\u2026)\u00a0 Sugarplum chose a booth with high sides and a bit of privacy (not that we needed it).\u00a0 We\u2019d been out running errands so naturally Doodle was hungry was well.\u00a0 I took him from his seat and fed him, as I always do.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have anything to cover with and didn\u2019t really care.\u00a0 We were in a pretty secluded place, I was behind the buggy and Doodle has a huge head which provides quite a bit of coverage.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t think anything of it until one of the young girls working there walked by.\u00a0 Then again a minute or two later with another young girl.\u00a0 As they passed me, the first looked back at the 2nd<\/sup> and gave her an eyebrow raise.\u00a0 I wanted to scream \u201cYes, I\u2019m feeding my child.\u00a0 It\u2019s lunch time and he\u2019s hungry too.\u201d\u00a0 I thought about letting the management know that they need to educate their staff on the rights of nursing mothers.\u00a0 I thought a lot of things and then I thought: why is this so weird to them? \u00a0And I wanted to educate them, these college aged not-yet-twenty-somethings that probably have no idea about how great and important breastfeeding is.<\/p>\n What I really wish I had the guts to say is this:<\/p>\n \u201cDo you know that right now, right THIS SECOND, I\u2019m not just giving my child the best source of nutrition possible but I am also lowering his chances of being obese later in life?\u00a0 I\u2019m lowering his chances of having diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer later in life.\u00a0 In this minute of nourishing him, I am giving him an immune boost and possibly even increasing his IQ, language and motor skills.\u00a0 Did you know that right now I am also lowering my own chances of developing rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis as well as breast and ovarian cancer later in life? Did you know it\u2019s not just about me pulling my boob out and feeding my child?\u00a0 That it\u2019s about protecting his future and mine?\u201d<\/p>\n Of course I didn\u2019t say these things and I\u2019m sure these young women didn\u2019t know much of this information because, frankly, I didn\u2019t know these things when I was a college aged not-yet-twenty-something myself.\u00a0 But why?\u00a0 Why aren\u2019t we teaching our young women about the normalcy and importance of breastfeeding?\u00a0 Why in high school health classes is breastfeeding not even mentioned when talking about caring for babies (at least it wasn\u2019t in mine)?\u00a0 Why is something that is sooo important barely even discussed at all outside of mothering circles?<\/p>\n