breastfeeding in public Archives - Page 3 of 10

Breastfeeding and the Holidays

Abby Theuring, The Badass Breastfeeder, breastfeeding

The holiday season is upon us! This means breastfeeding around extended family. It’s a positive experience for some people. For some people it’s downright awful.

Let me tell you that you are not required to change anything about your parenting choices when you are around others. It doesn’t matter who it is or where you are. Even someone else’s house. You are not required to leave the room to breastfeed unless you find this helpful such as moving to a quiet area so baby is not distracted. You are not required to move to make others comfortable. You are not required to cover yourself to make others comfortable. You not required to provide anyone with an explanation about how long you plan to breastfeed, why you feel the need to do it in the open or any other questions that makes you feel put on the spot. If you want to engage family in conversations about why these decision are good for your family then by all means, it can be a teaching moment. However, if you want to keep it simple, “I’m comfortable here, thank you,” “This works for us,” “We’re happy, thank you for asking,” and other non-engaging responses are perfectly acceptable. You do not have to try to please anyone. You know are right. Happy Holidays.

Filed Under: Breastfeeding // Tagged: Breastfeeding, breastfeeding advice, breastfeeding and family, breastfeeding and family criticism, breastfeeding and family support, breastfeeding and the holidays, breastfeeding in public

Breastfeeding Is Power

Breastfeeding began as the thing that brought me to my knees. It shook me to my new motherhood core. It pushed all of my buttons, buttons I didn’t know I had. It brought out anxiety, panic, fear, vulnerability and sadness. It didn’t work, it just wouldn’t work, no matter what I did. I felt like a failure, my body was letting me down and it was letting down the very person it was designed to care for. Then I got help and it began to work. It worked really well. I fought hard for it. And then I decided I would not stop until my boys were ready to stop. It gave me strength and power that I didn’t know I had in me. It has taught me about being a woman, being a mother, being strong when I feel weak, and power when I have nothing left to give.

Abby Theuring, The Badass Breastfeeder, breastfeeding

Photo by Leslie at Tiny Bubbles Photography.

Filed Under: Breastfeeding // Tagged: Breastfeeding, breastfeeding in public, extended breastfeeding

Breastfeeding in Public is a Human Right

You have 1 job as a parent and that is to take care of your children. You have the human and legal right to breastfeed whenever, wherever and however you see fit. You are not being disrespectful by not catering to other people’s random feelings of offense or queasiness from seeing a bit of side boob. How in the world could we possibly do that anyway when everyone has a different opinion about what we are supposed to be doing? No. It’s our job to worry about our children. It’s everyone else’s job to manage their feelings about that. Trust and believe I am managing my feelings all the time about things I see that I think are gross on the streets of Chicago.

Abby Theuring, The Badass Breastfeeder, breastfeeding in public

Filed Under: Breastfeeding in Public // Tagged: Breastfeeding, breastfeeding in public

Breastfeeding Family Support

Family support is vital to a breastfeeding relationship. It’s so important that without it breastfeeding can end early, before mom and baby feel ready. I have a supportive partner. He’s always listened to me about my breastfeeding goals and supported them even when our first son was getting older. “Extended breastfeeding” was a foreign concept to both of us at the time, but he stayed in the game when I stayed breastfeeding. As well as breastfeeding in public for the first time with a cover. I lasted 3 minutes with cover, it was such a pain. He just said, “Take it off.” Now it’s normal. Breastfeeding anywhere in the world at any age is totally normal in my family.

Abby Theuring, The Badass Breastfeeder, breastfeeding.

Filed Under: Breastfeeding // Tagged: Breastfeeding, breastfeeding and family support, breastfeeding in public, extended breastfeeding

Unsolicited Breastfeeding Advice

When people criticize, give unsolicited advice, insult or claim they are offended by breastfeeding, breastfeeding beyond infancy, tandem breastfeeding or any other decision you are making about your own family you can simply ignore them. People can say whatever they want and it never has to affect your personal choices. Go ahead and waste your time being offended. I’ll be over here living my own life. Abby Theuring, The Badass Breastfeeder, tandem breastfeeding

Filed Under: Breastfeeding // Tagged: Breastfeeding, breastfeeding in public, extended breastfeeding, tandem breastfeeding

10 Things I Hate About Breastfeeding

It’s Breastfeeding Awareness Month 2017 baby! And I am here to rant about things I cannot stand about breastfeeding! Why? Because this is hard. Breastfeeding is really hard! It’s magical and empowering and all that stuff but I need all you new parents and parents struggling right now to know that you will not like everything about breastfeeding. And that’s OK! We do a disservice to each other when we wash over the negative feelings that breastfeeding can bring us. We can find comfort and community in the tough things that we deal with just like with any other journey in life. It’s the secret to our success. So let’s get to it. 10 things I hate about breastfeeding!

When Kids Ask About Breastfeeding

I get many comments on social media that breastfeeding in public makes you feel uncomfortable because you don’t want your kids to see it. You say that it makes your kids uncomfortable. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Breastfeeding // Tagged: Breastfeeding, breastfeeding and older kids, breastfeeding in public, kids asking about breastfeeding

Breastfeeding Toddlers and Small Children

I recently wrote a post called Common Toddler Breastfeeding Problems. In the comment section a woman asked me to write more about breastfeeding toddlers “because it can get really lonely.” That comment really stayed with me. I breastfeed an almost 3-year-old and almost 6-year-old. I have many friends and an online community who do the same so I don’t feel lonely all the time, but I certainly feel that way when I am not within that community. And I remember what it felt like when I had no mothering community at all. I didn’t even know another mother when I had my first son, Jack. [Read more…]

Filed Under: "Extended" Breastfeeding // Tagged: breastfeeding beyond infancy, breastfeeding in public, breastfeeding small children, breastfeeding toddlers, extended breastfeeding, full term breastfeeding, natural term breastfeeding, nursing in public, toddler breastfeeding

Bottle Versus Breast: The Real Fight

I have never been shamed for breastfeeding. But saying that I have never been shamed for breastfeeding is like saying that I have never been raped. It doesn’t really matter. I still live in fear of it. No, I don’t mean shuddering in fear and unable to live my life. I mean my behavior (and yours) is shaped by the experiences of other women. I don’t walk alone at night. I am always aware of my surroundings. I walk briskly through empty parking garages. I would never think of cutting down an alley at night. As a matter of fact, I won’t even do it during the day in my neighborhood. I have lived my whole life being shaped by a culture where women are brutally abused every single day, where the responsibility lies on me to not be victimized. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Feminism // Tagged: breastfeeding and feminism, breastfeeding and misogyny, breastfeeding and patriarchy, breastfeeding harassment, breastfeeding in public, end misogyny, end patriarchy, feminism, misogyny, NIP, NIP incident, nursing in public, patriarchy

Is Breastfeeding a Feminist Issue?

“Abby, why are you steady blowing up my newsfeed with feminist posts? This is a breastfeeding page, I don’t need to hear about all this. Stop trying to make breastfeeding a feminist issue!”