"My lovely lady lumps..."

It’s Week 5 of the weekly Breastfeeding Blog Hop.

Link up to connect with other breastfeeding-friendly bloggers!

If you’re new to blog hops, please check out this post





Co-Hosts: @playersnamed and @mmumma

This Week’s Guest Host: @briemarisa1977
(That's me!)

Here are the guidelines for this blog hop:

1.Follow the 3 blog hosts for the week (spots #1-3). Spot #3 features a blogger randomly selected from the previous week’s blog hop.

2.Link up your breastfeeding-friendly blog so others can find it. If you have posted about breastfeeding (and/or pumping) in the past or plan to post about breastfeeding, that’s you!

3.Check out some of the other blogs from the Linky. Be sure to leave a comment on each blog that you found them through the Breastfeeding Blog Hop so they can follow you back!

4.Repost the linky (link for the code is in the lower right-hand corner of the linky below) on your blog to help promote the blog hop. Be sure to add some info about YOU so others have a place to say “Hi” & let you know they’re following.

5.Grab the button below if you’d like and display it in your linky post or your sidebar.

6.This blog hop will be active from Thursday, 01/27 – Sunday, 01/30.

7.Be sure to include these guidelines when you add the Blog Hop Linky Code to your blog.

About Me (A Breezy Life...): Howdy! I'm Brie! I'm the wife of a hot firefighter hubby (who is also a nurse!) and the mama to the funniest, sweetest baby boy in the world! Peter Joseph is 14 months old and has been nursed at the mall, Barnes and Noble, Chick-fil-A, and at Passover Seder (mazel tov!). I am VERY excited to co-host the BFBH with Jen, even if she does kick my ass at Words With Friends! I'm really happy to meet YOU! Stop and say hello!

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Please also visit THIS post- originally linked on this weeks BFBH- on "Things The Lactation Consultant Should Have Told Me"!

Nursing in public was not something that I had any qualms about. I grew up a theater brat , dropping trou backstage for costume  changes at the drop of a hat, and have little to zero modesty. So one would figure that a little boob reveal-age would be nothing, and really? It wasn't. For me, anyway.

For others? Holy moly! You'd have thought it was twirling around a stripper pole instead of twirling my Bebe au Lait around my neck to cover my son like a circus tent while he nursed!

I think that for people who are uncomfortable with breastfeeding, there are two things going on. One, there are people who, when they see a breast, are going to go "OMIGOD! BOOBIES!" no matter what function they are being utilized for. Those sexy little lady lumps can cause quite a stir sometimes, particularly when they are seen only as sexy lady lumps and not for what truly is their function as organs on a human female.

The other roadblock can simply be an unfamiliarity with breastfeeding. Some families are not nursing families, and breastfeeding can be uncomfortable to see and speak of. My father-in-law, who is a sweet, wonderful man, really did not know what to do when I needed to nurse my son in his presence! One time, on a visit to their house (I actually think it was PJ's first Christmas, so he was all of a month old!) I was nursing in a quiet area of the house, swathed in my nursing cover, and my father-in-law came by and turned off the lights "to make you more comfortable".

Um. Ooooooookay.

I truly know that he had the best of intentions and it does not upset me that nursing makes him uncomfortable. He is a man (check 1!) who is the parent of children who were not nursed (check 2!) and was raised in a very modest, religious family (check 3!). He loves me, adores my son, and was well pleased to see how well PJ thrived as an exclusively breastfed child. He was glad my son was eating something, he just...you know. Didn't want to think about my boobs.

So, therein lies the problem. Boobs are more then just sexy, but people tend to view them as purely ornamental instead of functional. How can we, as women and breastfeeding advocates, change this attitude?

This Breastfeeding Blog Hop is a great start- Mama's banding together to write about the virtues of breastfeeding. I always say that it's not the right choice for everyone, so the idea is not to look down on mothers that make a different choice but to change the view point for people that do, so it's okay to nurse your child in public and have people see the amazing function of a mother's body and not just...well...

Not just boobies.

9 comments

Jen - LifeWithLevi said...

Brie - you totally hit the nail on the head! I love your take on nursing in public. I've said it before and I'll say it again - you rock.

Meggan said...

:) I really got a kick out of your post...turning the lights off...a lifesaver:) I found your blog through the blog hop:)

mamagonzo said...

new from the bloghop :)

BrickHouseCooker said...

My favorite post so far in the blog hop! You made me laugh :D

Kristina said...

New follower. Love, love this topic!
www.kyeouze.blogspot.com

Jenn said...

The day I had Chuck, Bart and Billy left to get some food leaving me with Grace and my sister in law. The nurse came in and told me to try to feed him (I hate this, because really he's my third kid, I think I'd know if he were hungry). But as I was getting ready to feed him, my sister in law grabbed my daughter (she was 10) and said "come on Grace, your mom doesn't want you to see this". I told her that she was more than welcome to leave, but that my daughter could park it right back down because there is nothing wrong with seeing her mother feed her brother.

Tat said...

Fathers-in-law can be so funny. Mine asked me once why I didn't give my son milk, he would grow up faster... What did he think was in my breasts, orange juice? You are so wise to recognise his best intentions and not get upset about what in-laws say. It took me a long time to get there.

Darcy said...

New follower from the hop...

Unless I'm nursing in bed, I like the lights on! My in-laws are fine with me nursing front of them, for the most part, but it's obvious they aren't sure if they can/should look or not.

Fun times! (I also loved your list of what the LC shoulda told you) :)

~Darcy
Tales From the Nursery
http://www.darcyandbrian.com

Taleah said...

I stopped by from the hop - thank you for your post! My mother is the same was as your FIL... very very modest.