POSTS TAGGED : breastfeeding

Breastfeeding Mom Booted From Victoria’s Secret

So, I was just surfing the internet this morning and came across this annoying story. Apparently a mom in Texas was told she couldn’t breastfeed inside a Victoria’s Secret store. The mom asked if she could use an empty dressing room, but was told no. If that wasn’t bad enough, she was told to go outside the store to do it! So, she chose to go into a public restroom (yuck!). If she was bottle feeding no one would tell her she couldn’t give her crying baby a bottle inside the store.

Victoria’s Secret has apologized and will apparently give the woman a $150 gift card for her troubles. It’s just a shame that things like this are still happening so often. Women should be able to do something as natural as breastfeed their baby whenever they need to without feeling like they are doing something wrong.

What do you think about all this?

 

Missing the Target on Breastfeeding

If you’ve turned on a TV in the past few days or read anything online or in the paper, you know breastfeeding has been making headlines once again. This time they’re not talking about the benefits, but rather where and when a woman can feed her child in public. It’s all because of what happened at a Target down in Texas. A woman decided to nurse her fussy child in the women’s clothing section when a few workers asked her to go to a fitting room to finish. She says some others gave her dirty looks. She tried to explain to them that the law in Texas (and in many other states) allows women to breastfeed in public. She was so mad she called Target headquarters to complain about how she was treatred. I read that Target welcomes women to breastfeed in public areas of the store without being made to feel uncomfrtable. Target is now going to make sure all of its employees are aware of its policy. In support of her and other breastfeeding moms across the country, many women staged a “nurse-in” at Target stores.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love me some Target shopping, but what these workers did was so not cool. As a breastfeeding mom, it’s hard to schedule outings and errands around when you think your child may want to eat or around when you may have a “milkplosion” if you don’t let it all out. Like they say, when you gotta go, you gotta go. In this lady’s case, her child was hungry, plain and simple. I’m sure if she let her child scream people would have looked at her too because she was “that mom” with “that kid.” They would have wondered why she wasn’t doing something to keep her kid quiet.

Personally, I don’t breastfeed in public because I don’t feel comfortable doing it. I like sitting on my couch with my boppy and my baby. I supplement with formula because my baby eats a lot. This also allows me the luxury of being able to pop a bottle in her mouth if we’re out and she does get hungry. Women who breastfeed exclusively should be able to at anytime without feeling like a social outcast or for fear of making any man or woman, for that matter, feel uncomfortable. If the woman was standing in the store wearing a string bikini on the verge of having a Janet Jackson Superbowl wardrobe malfunction I wonder how many male employees would complain. Being the catty species we can be, I’m sure the female workers would still have some comments, myself included ! I feel for this Texas woman who was just being a good mom and really using her breasts for what they were intended for. It’s just sad that although we’ve come so far, so many people are still off target when it comes to breastfeeding.

Milk Money

    Back in the day, kids used to get milk money from their moms. Nowadays, moms are making their own milk money, so to speak. They’re cashing in on their excess breast milk. Perhaps you’ve heard, moms are selling their breast milk and pumping up their bank accounts in the process.

  This stuff really freaks me out. Anyone who knows me can tell you I’m in favor of breast feeding. I’m not a member of “La Leche League” or anything like that, but I think it’s great for the baby, good for bonding, and not to mention a fabulous way to lose that baby weight quickly without much effort. But I think your breast milk, should be for your kid, not for some random babies across the country.That’s just me.
   I’ve been doing a lot of reading about this because I just find it intriguing and completely odd at the same time. Apparently, some women are earning hundreds of dollars a month. Now I get it. It’s just that when you’re breastfeeding you kinda already feel like a dairy cow, now some women are really becoming one. While some produce just cups a day, others can produce gallons. As many of you may know, even if you freeze it, breast milk does have a shelf life. So these women have found a way to not let anything go to waste.
   Besides the fact that the whole thing just creeps me out, you gotta think about the health factor.Your breast milk has nutrients YOUR body makes for YOUR baby. Some babies are already allergic to their own mother’s breast milk, so why would you want to take a chance with a stranger’s? In fact, even the FDA is not recommending people buy breast milk on the open market because it could lead to disease. Why would you want to put your baby at risk? I say if you can’t make it, breast may not be best, and formula should be the way to go.
  I’ve heard some people say selling breast milk is no different than accepting donated blood or going to a sperm bank. If you look at it as if you’re just taking another bodily fluid then I guess you could make your case. But, I’m not convinced. If breast milk were something that should be shared with everyone and bought by anyone, I would find it in the dairy section at Stop & Shop. But I don’t. Who knows though, someday that could be coming! Never say never!