THE NURSING SECTION FOR ME, PLEASE!

      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 slip the baby onto my breast. You’d barely know what I was up to. And yet some people glare at me as if I’m smoking pot or snorting coke, not 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. Never mind my hungry baby -- I must be exposing my breasts to turn on guys! 
      Nursing my baby is just an excuse; I probably only gave birth to my son so I could display my fabulous milk-filled boobs in restaurants and airports, right? The hostile looks tell me that I’m breaking the rules. I’m not supposed to uncover my breasts in public to feed my baby. I’m supposed to uncover them in some guy’s bedroom to drive him wild with lust.
      Some people feel that nursing is a vulgar and unsightly practice to be hidden from the eyes of decent people. Look -- if you don’t like what you see, you’ve got a neck. Turn your head!  There’s no way I’m skulking off to the bathroom to sit on the toilet or the floor, breathing in stale cigarette smoke and Tidy Bowl fumes as I feed my baby to the pulsating rhythm of flushing toilets.
      Would you want to eat in a public restroom? Neither does my son.
      It’s not as if a remotely suitable place is ever provided for nursing in private.  Nursing in the bathroom 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 sight of those of us engaged in the most important job there is -- taking care of children.
      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.