Nurse-In

Recently, a mom in Houston was harassed in a Target store for breastfeeding her baby. Target's corporate policy does support breastfeeding, but is horribly worded, so employees misunderstood it to mean that women must breastfeed in the fitting rooms. They also erroneously told this mom that she could be arrested for indecent exposure. Texas law forbids that, so these employees were just grossly misinformed.

In response to this, a series of nurse-ins took place at Target stores nationwide. Along with some friends, I helped organize the one here, and as you can see from the photo below, we had a great turn-out.


When this very photo hit Facebook, there were a few comments that showed exactly why we are doing this. Check these gems out:

"lol....right next to the front door? whats the point of this? Does Target not allow nursing? you could always nurse in the car. Thats what I did"

"The story said she didnt cover up. i dont mind women breastfeeding where ever but be respectful and cover up. and if a store dont allow it then they dont allow it so go to the car.. and to answer ur question of (do you like eating in a car?) well do you go and suck on someones tit to eat? honestly if i had the option even if a store allowed breastfeeding i'd still pick the privacy of my own car."

First off, the woman in Houston was using a nursing cover, but that is not the point. The point is that these people think it is ok to relegate breastfeeding to the car, or demand that it be covered up by a blanket. I have never used a nursing cover, and I do not want to. This is also the case for most of the other nursing moms I know. The law backs me up on my right to do that, but more important than that, it bothers me that the US is the only society in the world that sees breastfeeding this way. Nowhere else in the world would these suggestions be made. For example, a friend who was stationed in Germany when her oldest was born, said that when she would sit down on a park bench to nurse him, people would come up and look in her wrap style baby carrier to see the baby, see that he was nursing, and not care a bit, just remark on how cute he was. Germans, like most people in the world, do not seem put off at all by breastfeeding. Yet somehow, here in the US, it is seen as perfectly acceptable to tell a mom to nurse in the car, or in the bathroom, or to cover up with a blanket even if it's a million degrees outside.

Our society's attitude toward breastfeeding is the reason I got involved with this nurse-in. I really have no beef with the Target corporation. I love shopping at Target, and won't be stopping that anytime soon. My presence there was because I believe that the only way people will see breastfeeding for what it is, the normal way to feed a human baby, is to see it regularly. When you see something all the time, you stop giving it any thought. That's what needs to happen with breastfeeding. People need to see it happening until they no longer notice it. I havev noticed among my own group of friends, the moms who did not breastfeed, or the women who do not have kids, do become very desensitized to breastfeeding the more they're around me and Chai. They see breastfeeding over and over again, and they realize it's normal. Society will be the same way, but it will take a lot of effort, and the willingness of all nursing moms to go ahead and nurse in public, however they want, greet the dirty looks with a smile, the snide comments with a reminder that the law protects your right to feed your baby this way. Change will happen. It won't be quick, and it won't be seamless, but it will happen here, as it has in other countries. Today, nursing moms from all over the country stood together, and made one confident step in the right direction.

The local news also came to see us at the location my friends and I were at. I'll post a link to the video when it comes up.