Now that we have finally entered the heat of summer, I can comfortably engage in immediate outdoor nursing when I pick up my daughters mid-afternoon. I typically meet my youngest and the sitter at my eldest daughter’s school, where I am promptly instructed to go sit down under a shady tree and nurse. So I do. On the school grounds. I live to breastfeed in public as you know, and I am not a throw the boob out there for all to see breastfeeder, but neither am I so discreet that it is not obvious what I am doing. I am not, never have been, and never will be a nursing cover kind of breastfeeder.

Seriously? Use a nursing cover? I don’t think so.  How easy is it to get one of those on you and set up when you are trying to get ready to feed a hungry newborn, or hungry toddler for that matter? How can a baby breathe under there? Yeah, yeah I have seen those nursing covers with the “unique rigid neckline” that supposedly allow for air ventilation and direct eye contact. Answer me this - how comfortable would you be with a big swath of cloth wrapped around on your body while you feed on a hot summer day? I’m telling you right now I would not appreciate it and neither would my toddler.

But why perpetuate the myth that breastfeeding is obscene and indecent bv covering up? Doesn’t the very act of covering up work against normalizing breastfeeding in our society? I am not going to feed my baby in the bathroom and I am only going to use one of those breastfeeding rooms if I can’t find another comfortable place to sit. Why? It’s not that I’m an exhibitionist. Well, OK, maybe I was, am, a bit of an exhibitionist. But if I was a breastfeeding exhibitionist I would be throwing my breast out there for all to see, and I don’t think I do that. I think throwing it out there, in your face style, also works against normalizing breastfeeding in public. In other parts of my life, yes I may show them off, and yes as a breastfeeding mom I check the status of my breasts in public, but that’s not out there in your face, is it? To normalize breastfeeding in public, I don’t think extremes on either side will be helpful, we just need normal breastfeeding, however it may happen. And normal breastfeeding does not happen under a cover. There is nothing normal about strapping a piece of fabric around your neck and torso before you sit down with your baby. I understand the modesty line as well. But you can remain modest without using a cover - some lovely new breastfeeding shirts will do the trick and neither you or your baby will overheat.

 I understand the market for nursing covers, and yet at the same time I don’t. In the heat we’ve been experiencing in this part of the world for the past few days, there is no way I will cover up to nurse. The public is lucky I don’t just tear off my shirt and go for it!

Get in on some lactivism! A Rally and March to Save Cambridge Memorial’s Lactation Program has been scheduled for Tuesday, June 23, 2009 from 11.00 am - 1:00 pm.

If you are interested in participating (and if you live in Cambridge or the greater Waterloo Region, why wouldn’t you?!?!?), the plan is to meet at the Price Chopper Plaza at the corner of Dundas and Hwy #24 in Cambridge (also known as The Delta) for 11:00am. Everyone will then march the 1 km to Cambridge Memorial Hospital.

Come and show your united support to save these services!

Please wear BLUE to show your breastfeeding support, bring your babies, bring your signage!

For more information, please contact breastfeeding@ohbabyfitness.ca

I can never have too many reasons to love breastfeeding. Besides the bonding experience with my baby, the joy I get when she latches on by herself in the middle of the night, the laugh she gives me when she wants to feed in public and she tweaks my breast and says “bub”,  and then add in the extended health benefits for both mom and baby the last long after breastfeeding has stopped. How can you not love breastfeeding? If heart disease runs in your family, as it does in mine, then you’ll be happy to hear that breastfeeding reduces your risk of heart disease.

A new research study shows that the longer a mom breastfeeds her babies, the less likely her chances of developing diabetes, heart disease or stroke. Do YOU need more convincing?

About a year ago I posted about the Vatican and their plea to uncover the images of Mary breastfeeding the infant Jesus. Hallelujah, it’s about time! Only about four centuries! I suppose if it took 4 centuries for the Vatican to accept images of Mary breastfeeding, it may take a little while longer for the general public of Eureka Springs, Arkansas?

It seems there is an uproar about an image in a local mural on display in Eureka Springs. Local artist Michelle Levy, painted a lovely image of the Divine Mother breastfeeding an infant for the 2007 Atery Exhibit in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The Artery is a not-for-profit artist trust whose theme for the 2007 exhibit was Icons. The piece is now on display in an outdoor exhibit and is twisting some nipples.  

Michelle’s work has hit the news as locals misunderstand and complain about the provocative nature of the art, as her piece is considered one of the most controversial. The controversy has been picked up by numerous papers, including the Arkansas Times, Fox News, and AOL News. All because of an image of a woman people are misinterpreting to be the Virgin Mary. Please people, ONCE AGAIN see this post and this statement, FROM THE VATICAN.

You can follow the story at Michelle’s blog, The Divine Mother Mural Controversy or join her Facebook group, We Support “The Divine Mother” Mural.

Really, I wonder what part of this piece is really twisting their nipples in a knot, the image of breastfeeding, or that the painting asks the question “Does this halo make my face look fat?”

The news is out, Cambridge Memorial is going to lose their breastfeeding support services July 3, 2009. The Waterloo Region is already lacking in supports for breastfeeding moms, and the Cambridge hospital in-patient and out-patient services is the only service of its kind in the region. Losing a valued service in this region means moms will either go without support and risk turning to breastmilk substitutes for the lack of help and support, or they will have to leave the region to find help. In a region that averages over 5000 births per year, this is unacceptable.

According to an 2006 study by UNICEF, breastfed babies cost the system $1,500 less per year than babies that are not breastfed. Medicine should be preventative, not maintenance. If our healthcare system is already stretched to the limit, doesn’t it make sense to keep those preventative services in place with the hope that they reduce our health maintenance costs in the long run?  

Tania Heinemann, Chair of the Cambridge Community Breastfeeding Group, wrote a call to action to petition against the decision to cut lactation support services.

If you live in Cambridge, or the Waterloo Region, please read her call to action, then write letters of protest and opinion about this decision and send them to the Operations Review Committee at Cambridge Memorial Hospital via Medical Administration.

Yes, it is. Some may say we have come a long way, but really? When only 14% of mothers are still exclusively breastfeeding by 6 months, and all over the world we are still fighting for the right to breastfeed in public without being harassed, when services like Facebook still refer to the image of a baby on the breast as obscene and link it to porn, have we really come a long way?

When I read articles like this article in the Toronto Sun, I really have to wonder.

I do think there is a place in the world for pictures of over-sized breasts, I really do. Breasts are lovely. I also think there is a place in the world for pictures of breasts fulfilling their feeding purpose. They are just as lovely when they are functioning, if not more so.

Canadian lactivists, breastfeeders,  breastfeeding advocates and supporters, time to put your name on the digital dotted line. INFACT Canada and INFACT Quebec need our help!

INFACT is petitioning Prime Minister Stephen Harper to improve breastfeeding support for all mothers and babies across Canada, but they can’t do it alone. They need 100,000 signatures to present to the PM. 

 So please, head to http://protectbreastfeedingpetition.ca/ and sign the petition. Help make Canada a better place to breastfeed!

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