Lactivists UNITE

Okay I am a bit late to this, figures now it's the popular thing to do but my baby days are done. However it's nice to see breastfeeding get supported. Back when I nursed mine it was not accepted very well, infact I was once asked to leave the mall because I was discretely feeding one of mine when this lady came up and asked to "see" my baby. When I told her sorry she's eating right now it then became an issue. Obviously I wasn't showing my "goods" if she didn't realize it until I said something. She then complained to a security guard who asked me to leave and I told him, "Sorry but until the mall provides a place other than perching on a toilet? Not gonna happen". He wisely decided it wasn't worth pushing - lol

At that time La Leche didn't appeal to me as they were the "radicals" of the breastfeeding movement and most of them still nursed until their children were almost school age. Sorry but for me once the teeth came in top and bottom? Time to start thinking about switching to a cup there kiddo.....

So being a former mini lactivist I've watched the recent "nurse-ins" with some interest. I have to admit thinking the representative from Ohio that was worried about someone "spilling" breastmilk on the floor and slipping on it was rather silly. I did have some good humor moments at his expense though, making my household crack up over the comment...."Back off buster or I'll squirt ya" and similiar humorous comments I'll spare you....okay that was bad but it was a funny visual.....

Full article for those who want to read more...some interesting items from the article for those who don't sign up to the Washington Post:

Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York, held a nurse-in on the Capitol's Cannon Terrace last month as she reintroduced federal legislation to amend the Civil Rights Act to protect women from employment discrimination for using a breast pump or feeding their babies during breaks.

Nursing mothers are pressuring businesses, too. Burger King has declared that mothers are welcome to nurse. Starbucks - the target of a letter-writing campaign that asked "What's more natural than coffee and milk?" - has, too.

The moves come as the number of American mothers who choose to breast-feed has climbed to about 70 percent in 2003, the last year for which information was available, from about 50 percent in 1990. Many otherwise apolitical women say they found themselves unexpectedly transformed into lactivists after fielding a nasty comment or being asked to stop nursing in public.

"We're all told that breast-feeding is the best, healthiest thing you can do for your child," said Lorig Charkoudian, 32, who started the Web site www.nurseatstarbucks.com after being asked to use the bathroom to nurse at her local Starbucks. "And then we're made to feel ashamed to do it without being locked in our homes."

But Ms. Walters is not the only one who might prefer not to be confronted with breast-feeding at close quarters. (She made a comment on her show "The View" about being uncomfortable when a mom nursed her baby next to her on a flight. That led to a "nurse in" infront of the Studio.) Legislators, business owners and family members are debating how to reconcile the health benefits of nursing with the prevailing cultural squeamishness toward nursing in public.

In interviews and Internet discussions, hundreds of women recount being asked to stop nursing in public spots, including the Children's Museum in Huntsville, Ala.; a knitting store in the East Village; a Radisson Hotel lobby in Virginia; a public bus in Los Angeles; and a city commission meeting in Miami Beach.

"It's nothing against breast-feeding, it's about exposing yourself for people who don't want to see it," said Scotty Stroup, the owner of a restaurant in Round Rock, Tex., where a nursing mother was refused service last fall.

The American Academy of Pediatrics urges women to feed their babies only breast milk for the first six months, and continue breast-feeding for at least an additional six months. If its recommendations were followed, the group estimates that Americans would save $3.6 billion in annual health care costs because breast-fed babies tend to require less medical care. But while more women are breast-feeding for the first few weeks, fewer than one-third are still nursing after six months. Some doctors attribute the decline to self-consciousness and the difficulties of finding spaces where nursing seems acceptable.

So not only is it like I knew back in the "olden days" healthier but todays moms are demanding what alot of us wanted in the past but didn't have the support, the right to feed our kids when they are hungry without having to find someplace to hide.