Breast milk is the most complete food that we can give to a baby, since it changes as the child grows, to contain all the nutrients necessary for its development.
In fact, for thousands of years, no one questioned the suitability of this liquid gold, as it was the natural way to feed babies. And women around the world, breastfed their children as something natural, without being judged for it.
So why do we now have to continue to advocate for women who breastfeed their children in public? Has the culture of breastfeeding been lost in Spain? Dr. Susana Ares, coordinator of the Lactation Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP), affirms that it does and assures that society sees the mother who breastfeeds in public as a hippie, when it is something totally normal .
My experience ‘in secret’
It has always been clear to me that I wanted to breastfeed my children and fortunately I was able to do it, although perhaps not as long as I would have liked. Because in the seven years that they have been, the appreciation of a mother breastfeeding her child has changed considerably for the better, but not all that is necessary.
I was separated from my daughter when she was born and no one in the public maternity hospital gave me guidance on how to put her on the breast for the first time three hours later.
But things did not improve either afterwards, since breastfeeding in the street became a real odyssey : I had to go to the car, cover the window with a jacket so that they would not see us, run to the bathroom of a bar when the I had to eat and put my baby to suck on the toilet seat … I was afraid that my little girl would want to eat on the street in case I couldn’t find a place to hide!
At three months I had to give up breastfeeding to go back to work, since “taking breastfeeding leave was an excuse to work less” (as my boss saw it). Nor did I have a support network around me that would allow me to continue breastfeeding my daughter after long working hours.
I still remember how loaded my breasts were the first few days after going back to work and that I had to lock myself in one of the toilets in the bathroom to express my milk by hand and alleviate the pain somewhat.
I have a feeling that the whole breastfeeding was sneakily, because it wasn’t okay to show my breasts in public.
A more open breastfeeding
Fortunately with my young son our experience with breastfeeding was completely different. They did not separate us at any time since he was born and as soon as he placed it on it, he crawled on his own to the breast and began to suckle. I was so happy to see that everything was fine!
And the following days and months were just as simple: I ate when I wanted and where it came from. It was only when he was on a walk with my mother that he asked me to “cover myself up a bit out of education.” And he would put a jacket on the front or whatever he had on hand, not to argue.
But honestly I am not aware if they gave me bad looks when I was breastfeeding my baby in public because I did not care. I knew what I wanted and that what I was doing was the best for my son and, what the rest of the world thought, I didn’t care. And so it was until we had to suspend breastfeeding due to health problems.
So when my little sister had her first daughter and breastfed her until she was two, I could only feel envy. Naturally, I offered it to her when she requested it and when my niece grew up, she was the one who would climb on top and take off her shirt or whatever she was wearing and eat! Anywhere.
And with my little niece, the same. She was breastfeeding beyond the age of three, until she weaned herself just a few months ago. And it was all possible because her mother was able to enjoy breastfeeding leave, a room at work to express her milk, reduced working hours to be able to spend more time with her daughter, and a grandmother who gave her bibs with milk. maternal when she was not.
And I assure you that neither of us are hippies, nor liberated women, and we shamelessly walk around showing our breasts to everyone. In fact, I have never been topless in public, but I do not see any sense in which mothers have to hide today, as I had to do when breastfeeding my first daughter.
Because feeding our children is something natural and beautiful and the problem is for those who look at a woman’s breasts and see them as something ‘perverted’. Can there be anything more beautiful than a mother raising her baby while the two of them look at each other lovingly?
And those who criticize him “for the bad example they can give children” , fall back into a big lie: they are the ones who badly educate their children by pointing out as ‘wrong’ something as natural as breastfeeding, even criticizing women who breastfeed in public spaces.
What they have to do is lead by example in front of their children, normalizing an image that has been repeated throughout history and that we seem to have forgotten.
Because that is breastfeeding: the natural and normal way to feed our children, although the data reflects that only two out of every five babies continue to feed exclusively with breast milk in Spain.
Why should breastfeeding be normalized?
Breast milk always nourishes and its benefits for mother and baby are scientifically proven: it reduces the risk of sudden infant death, counteracts the genetic predisposition to obesity, lower probability of suffering from diabetes, long-term immunity, hypertension and others cardiovascular pathologies, and many more.
Thus, although after the first hours of delivery it is normal not to have much milk, the production is adjusted to the demand of the baby. That is why it is so important to put him to the breast every time he cries or when he shows signs of hunger, whether in a public space or at home.
But it seems that not everyone thinks the same, because it is not the first time that we have to ‘report’ a case of discrimination against a mother because she is breastfeeding her child.
Mothers are ‘invited’ to cover up on airplanes, in swimming pools, in a shopping center …
Mothers insist on affirming that this prohibition lies, above all, in prejudices and a lack of social information, despite the fact that the UN recognizes breastfeeding as a human right for babies and mothers.
Examples such as those of some models breastfeeding on the catwalk, politicians and athletes breastfeeding while continuing their normal activity, are undoubtedly good examples for those who still ask that a mother cover herself when she is breastfeeding. If even the Pope encourages mothers to breastfeed in the Sistine Chapel!
And it is that in the XXI century it should be something unquestionable, although unfortunately from time to time controversies of this type continue to arise that indicate the need to make the problem visible.
And these days, when World Lactation Week is celebrated, we want to talk about it again. It is our grain of sand to normalize something that has to be normal and always has been.
Hopefully next year, around the same time, it will no longer be necessary to give a voice to nursing mothers because no one has questioned them when breastfeeding their children wherever and whenever they want. Because breastfeeding in public isn’t just for hippies.
Via | Efe Agency
In Babies and More | Breastfeeding is daddy’s business too,
