THE NURSING SECTION

           
            I try to be discreet. It’s not as if I stand up in the middle of a crowded restaurant, rip open my shirt and shout “HEY EVERYBODY LOOK AT ME!” Instead I quietly unbutton my top and unobtrusively slip the baby onto my breast. You’d barely know what I was up to. Yet some people glare at me as if I’m sitting there mainlining hard drugs instead of nurturing my young. When I get one of their outraged looks I want to ask, “What on earth do you think breasts are for?” But I already know the answer -- women have breasts to titillate men. I’m exposing my breasts to turn on guys!
            Nursing my baby is just an excuse; I probably only had the kid so I could display my fabulously exciting milk-filled floppy tits in restaurants and airports, right? Still, the nasty looks inform me in no uncertain terms that I’m breaking the rules. I’m not supposed to uncover my breasts in public to feed my hungry baby. I’m supposed to uncover them in some guy’s bedroom to drive him wild with lust.
            The message seems to be that nursing is a vulgar and unsightly practice to be hidden away from the eyes of decent people. Look -- if you don’t like what you see, you’ve got a neck. Turn your head. I’ll be damned if I’m going to skulk off to the bathroom to sit on the toilet or floor, breathing the twin aromas of stale cigarette smoke and Tidy Bowl as I feed my baby to the pulsating rhythm of flushing johns. Would you want to eat dinner in a public restroom? My baby doesn’t either.
            It’s not as if a comfortable or even remotely suitable place is normally provided for nursing in private.  Nursing in the bathroom usually means sitting on the floor with the used tissues and cigarette butts, as other women come in and out and comment on your condition. Blank stares are the norm. The occasional expressions of support and outrage -- “What a shame you have to hide away in here to feed your baby!” are as infrequent as they are appreciated.
            Maybe in addition to “Smoking” and “No Smoking” sections, public places can have “Nursing” and “No Nursing” sections? Then the grumps and grouches can be spared the awful sight of those of us to need to get on with the crucial task of childrearing.
            A friend of mine was paid a visit by her grandmother, who came by to see her great-grandchild for the first time. The baby got hungry; Karen proceeded to nurse him. Grandma was shocked.
             “Doesn’t it bother you to nurse in public?” she asked (referring, of course, to Karen’s own living room.)
            “Oh no,” said Karen. “I love to nurse in public! When there aren’t enough people around here I bundle up the baby and take him out to the airport to nurse!”
            That’s the right attitude.