Maybe I’m just not a good lactivist. I have the golden opportunity to participate in a “nurse-in” downtown in Times Square and I’m not going. It’s not because I’m too busy or don’t have the time. It doesn’t even have to do with the fact that I’m nursing twins and doing so outside of the Toys R Us in Times Square would be a nightmare. Rather, I’m actively participating in my own “nurse out”.
I know, if you follow my blogs some of you are probably shocked. I actively promote breastfeeding every chance I get because I believe it’s that good for your baby. I will educate about breastfeeding, I will talk about it until I’m blue in the face, I will nurse my own babies. Hey, I’ll even nurse my own babies in public–anywhere. But I draw the line at a nurse in.
Maybe some of you have already heard the story. If not, you can read Michele’s blog. Basically a woman says that she was asked to move while she was nursing her son at the TRU in Times Square. She says they were rude, they called security and the whole nine yards because it was “inappropriate.” She was embarrassed and humiliated. And now, her and her LLL lackeys are planning a nurse in. (In case you’re not familiar a nurse in is where a bunch of breastfeeding women sit outside a store all day and nurse their babies.)
I am a skeptic of her story personally. I have been to that particular Toys R Us on numerous occasions. I have breastfed at that store in numerous occasions in just about every department as is feasible. The fact of the matter is, TRU has a pro-breastfeeding policy–period. That’s part of who they are as a company. If you think about it, it would be dumb for them not to be that way.
So let’s say that one employee missed the training day where they showed everyone the nursing mother’s room and talked about how to treat breastfeeding moms. I have a very hard time believing that a whole crew of employees, including security at a children’s store would be completely ignorant. Maybe they are and I just don’t know better. But when I was nursing there–the nice clerk brought me a stool; she didn’t shun me into the nether regions. But I digress. . .
Here’s my problem with a nurse in. I cannot figure out for the life of me what a group of breast wielding mothers might accomplish in Times Square or anywhere else for that matter. TRU is already breastfeeding friendly. Even if it weren’t, a mother’s right to breastfeed in public(with nipples showing by the way) is protected under New York State law. What else is there to accomplish?
I guess, like I said, I am not a good lactivist. I will consistently help nursing mothers. I will seek to educate and if you’re a friend of mine. . .I will likely tell you to get rid of the free formula they give you in the “breastfeeding support bag”. I never buy a friend bottles for her baby shower–because I am that convinced that everyone should breastfeed. I will nurse in public as long as I need to and I will not apologize for it nor will I go nurse in the bathroom. But you will not see me at a nurse in as long as it is legal for me to nurse in public.
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