Ignorance is Not a Good Excuse

I've just been reading comments from posters who read an article about a woman suing a restaurant for harassing her about nursing there. My blood pressure is normally fine, but it's skyrocketing right now! I simply cannot believe the ignorant people at large in our society. It's hard to determine whether they are a true sampling of the population, or if the type of people who go out of their way to be nasty on a public forum are just idiots in every aspect of their lives, and not a representation of Americans. I hope it's the former.

People were mentioning that the mother should have known her baby was going to need to be fed, so she should have set her schedule accordingly. Why in the world should a mom revolve her life around being able to nurse at home, in the car, in the bathroom, etc??? Just because formula companies have brainwashed people into believing that bottles of synthetic milk are the "normal" food for babies doesn't make it true. If a parenting "expert" writes that babies should only be hungry on a certain schedule, it doesn't mean that your baby will follow it (unless your genius baby has read the book for herself and decides it's the best thing for her). Normal baby feeding is breastfeeding, and normal breastfeeding doesn't follow a schedule. It is this thinking that makes women only nurse for the newborn period (if that). They are afraid to nurse in public, so breastfeeding becomes a cage for them. Who would want to lock themselves away in their home for months and months with only their baby for company? Even if you believe that nursing is the best thing for your child, the solitude will wear you down.

There were several comments from Super Morons who wondered why the mom didn't pump her milk and bring it along in a bottle for the baby to drink in public. My youngest child is now nineteen months old. None of the three of them have ever used a bottle. It is not the same thing as breastfeeding, even if there's breastmilk in the bottle (although it is better than formula any day). If the mom didn't use bottles, why should she start just so that she could eat out? It's no one's business to insist that all babies be trained to drink bottles.

Some of the posters used the classic line, "Peeing and sex are natural too, but you can't do those in a restaurant." Wow, those people are so clever. See how they turned other normal behaviours against breastfeeding mothers? Well guess what that baby was probably also doing while in the restaurant? Peeing and (Gasp!) Pooping in her diaper!!! Can you believe that? What kind of a mother brings non-potty-trained babies out in public! What if I smell a dirty diaper and throw up? Some of the posters actually mentioned that they might be sick if they saw a woman nursing. If I ever cause someone to vomit through the act of feeding my child, I hope it gets all over their pants.

There were also complaints that children might see and question what the woman was doing. What the hell is wrong with that? I'm a little worried if your child doesn't know what breasts are for. Are you waiting until he's twelve to tell him that breasts are for him to play with? Are you going to tell your teenage daughter that she's developed a nice set of accessories? It's not as if telling a child that babies drink milk from their mother's breasts sets you up to talk about sex. What if your child sees a pregnant woman and asks how the baby got in there? Maybe all pregnant women should be forced to stay at home once they are showing so that Americans can keep their children from knowing about reproduction. It will be good practice for after the women have given birth and have to hide at home to breastfeed.