Initial OK given to breast-feeding bill

Nursing mothers could soon find themselves free to breast-feed whenever, wherever they want.

[Shannon]

I am not in favor of this at all.

I recently went to the Science Museum in Boston. I was eating at the food court and this woman came over with her infant and sat at the table directly in front of me. She started breastfeeding her newborn with out covering herself up! Literally, her breast was out there for the world to see and she just stared down at her child and did nothing to cover herself up! I was totally disgusted. I understand that a mother's milk is a great thing for a developing baby, but why not go into the bathroom to feed, or in there to pump to feed elsewhere? Talk about a loss of appetite...UGH.

[Georgina]

Shannon ~ do you eat your food in restaurant bathrooms? Do you want chefs to prepare your food in restaurant bathrooms?

Breasts are for feeding babies. Period. And if seeing a baby feeding nausiates you, then it seems that you need to look inward as to why instead of bashing a mother for being so nurturing to her own child.

[Shannon]

Do you see half naked people eating in a food court or restaurant?

[Shannon]

I don't see chefs preparing my food at the restaurant tables where this happened.

[Georgina]

1. One exposed breast does not a half-naked woman make. Talk about a stretch when you've got nothing else. And she was feeding her child, not performing a sexual act or doing something disgusting. Take off your prudish judgmental glasses and take a step into reality ~ It could only do you good.

2. Again, avoiding the point. You advocate banishing the mothers to bathrooms to feed and/or prepare (pump) the babies food ~ Now THATS nauseating. If you wouldn't do this for yourself, why expect a nurturing mother & child to?

[Georgina]

Shannon wrote:

I don't see chefs preparing my food at the restaurant tables where this happened.

But you EAT at the restaurant table & not hidden away in some bathroom because someone has deemed you disgusting...

[Ryan]

This law is fine if you don't mind the perverts of Boston following you around all day waiting for you to whip out a breast and start feeding just because you can. My wife would never breast feed in public out of respect to others and as a personal safety issue.

[Shannon]

I don't see the mother slapping her breast on the table, counter or floor of the bathroom to pump so what is so disgusting about that?

Go in, whip it out, hook up the pump and do your thing. Bring it back to the table and feed your child......what is the problem?

My point was (which you missed all along due to your closed mindset) was, she had the breast hanging out there for the world to see.....the least she could have done was to cover it up, have a little respect for yourself and everyone else that is eating aorund you.

[Michael]

Shannon, Don't come to Boston then, Stay on your Army base where they teach torture techniques. Now that disgusting.

[Georgina]

Ryan wrote:

This law is fine if you don't mind the perverts of Boston following you around all day waiting for you to whip out a breast and start feeding just because you can. My wife would never breast feed in public out of respect to others and as a personal safety issue.

Perverts? Like people who stare at womens body parts no matter what they are doing or wearing? People who only look at breasts as sexual genitalia? Please - sounds like the mindset of people who blame a victimized woman for what she was wearing or where she was! Respect first belongs to the mother who is quietly feeding her child as nature intended.

Others, if they are put off should be respectful and look away instead of staring and/or making mountains out of molehills.

I certainly see enough men exposing nipples, butt crack & pubic hair due to ill fitting clothes - or not bothering to wear a shirt at all & for no other reason than because they feel entitled. At least breast feeding mothers are performing a natural, nurturing task that has no place being thought of as dirty, disgusting, disrespectful.

[Shannon]

Michael wrote:

Shannon, Don't come to Boston then, Stay on your Army base where they teach torture techniques. Now that disgusting.

I'm not on an army base you bonehead, just happens to be where my ISP is located.

[Georgina]

Shannon wrote:

I don't see the mother slapping her breast on the table, counter or floor of the bathroom to pump so what is so disgusting about that?
Go in, whip it out, hook up the pump and do your thing. Bring it back to the table and feed your child......what is the problem?
My point was (which you missed all along due to your closed mindset) was, she had the breast hanging out there for the world to see.....the least she could have done was to cover it up, have a little respect for yourself and everyone else that is eating aorund you.

If it's no big deal, then the next time you see a mother breastfeeding why not excuse yourself to the bathroom? Why not have waiters serve you in the bathroom, as long as they don't drag your utensils/food across the floor, lol??

Hmmm, sounds like an easier solution would be for you to not stare at the woman? Do you stare at other people eating their meal & judge them on how they do it? You keep trying to stretch it into something it isn't by using words like "hanging out for the WHOLE WORLD to see" (actuality: sitting down feeding her child, minding her OWN BUSINESS); or "half naked woman" (actuality: exposing enough breast to feed her child).

People with a solid base to their opinion do not need to muck it up in a painfully obvious attempt to make it into something worse. Food for thought...& you don't even have to take it to the bathroom ;-)

[Shannon]

Right on Ryan..........it is called respect and apparently these people know nothing about that.
No child that I know of has ever gone hungry by the mother not breast feeding in public.

[Shannon]

(actuality: exposing enough breast to feed her child)

First of all you weren't there. This woman had the whole damn thing dangling out. And when you are eating somewhere you scan around looking at everything (unless you state mindlessly at your food the entire time), one glance of that nonsense was enough for me.

They do not serve food in the bathroom unless you have encountered a weird fetish. Last I checked breastmilk was not on any menu I have ever encountered.

As I had stated before, out of respect for the paying customers eating food from the restaurant (which I assume she wasn't because she didn't buy any food) she should have covered herself unless hse was looking to offend people....which she apparently did because one of the waitstaff brought it to her attention and she totally disreagrded what he said continued on her way until some higher up confronted her and she got all pissy and.....guess what.......she went into the bathroom and finished, now what was so hard about that?

[EatAtMoms]

It's about time!!!!!!

[Georgina]

Shannon wrote:

(actuality: exposing enough breast to feed her child)
First of all you weren't there. This woman had the whole damn thing dangling out. And when you are eating somewhere you scan around looking at everything (unless you state mindlessly at your food the entire time), one glance of that nonsense was enough for me.
They do not serve food in the bathroom unless you have encountered a weird fetish. Last I checked breastmilk was not on any menu I have ever encountered.
As I had stated before, out of respect for the paying customers eating food from the restaurant (which I assume she wasn't because she didn't buy any food) she should have covered herself unless hse was looking to offend people....which she apparently did because one of the waitstaff brought it to her attention and she totally disreagrded what he said continued on her way until some higher up confronted her and she got all pissy and.....guess what.......she went into the bathroom and finished, now what was so hard about that?

I totally doubt it or I believe you would have made a point much earlier in this thread to say she eventually moved to the bathroom after waitstaff/management complaints. You spent way too much time & energy blowing it out of proportion to NOW claim your stake that management sided with you, lol...

In my opinion your position and judgement of public breastfeeding is highly offensive, and I sincerely hope American society evolves to the point of showing busy bodied bullies the door when they complain about a thing as natural as breastfeeding. Sexualizing & degrading breastfeeding is truly bizarre & makes me worry more about the mindset of the people who feign insult to a breastfeeding mother.

[Vettegirl]

Shannon wrote:

I am not in favor of this at all.
I recently went to the Science Museum in Boston. I was eating at the food court and this woman came over with her infant and sat at the table directly in front of me. She started breastfeeding her newborn with out covering herself up! Literally, her breast was out there for the world to see and she just stared down at her child and did nothing to cover herself up! I was totally disgusted. I understand that a mother's milk is a great thing for a developing baby, but why not go into the bathroom to feed, or in there to pump to feed elsewhere? Talk about a loss of appetite...UGH.

I had the same thing happen to me, and I was in a expensive restaurant. I was HORRIFIED. Isn't there any common decency anymore?? I think it makes women look bad, like we are animals.

[Shannon]

Georgina wrote:

<quoted text>
I totally doubt it or I believe you would have made a point much earlier in this thread to say she eventually moved to the bathroom after waitstaff/management complaints. You spent way too much time & energy blowing it out of proportion to NOW claim your stake that management sided with you, lol...
In my opinion your position and judgement of public breastfeeding is highly offensive, and I sincerely hope American society evolves to the point of showing busy bodied bullies the door when they complain about a thing as natural as breastfeeding. Sexualizing & degrading breastfeeding is truly bizarre & makes me worry more about the mindset of the people who feign insult to a breastfeeding mother.

Apparently you insist on continuing this, well you are going at it alone.....this nonsense will not get my vote.

[Shannon]

Oh, and I didn't feel the need to tell the whole story until you started being childish. So there it is, the whole thing. I'm glad she was asked to leave, she refused to cover up, and apparently you like the sight of woman's brests....well to each their own. Seeing another strangers breasts in public freaks me out, but maybe it turns you on, whatever makes you happy.

[EatAtMoms]

Sadly, we need these laws in Massachusetts in order to protect we breastfeeding mothers from people like YOU. And luckily, your vote won't mean a thing here in Massachusetts!