WWYD NIP on 20/20

I watched What would you do on 20/20 last Friday, this episode they had a situation were a nursing mom was being harassed by a manager of the cafe. I just wanted to take some time to write my thoughts on what happened.

While I am glad they took the time to do a show on this real life issue over all I was very disappointed in the show.

1. They used an actor and a doll instead of taking the time to find a real nursing mother that would be willing to do the show.

2. I found the acting of the manager to be very unbelievable, most times the harassment is not that over the top.

3. I thought the last scene, which was a women NIP while drinking was very distasteful, that is a whole other issue in itself.

While all the women ( except the one that was drinking ) did have someone intervene I was shocked at the reaction when they used a actress that looked young. It took a longer time for someone to step in and most people thought she should not be nursing in public at all. The nursing rates of teen age and young moms are low enough without having people respond to them this way. They should be getting the encouragement they need, not being looked down on for it.

I had my first child at 19, I was married but I still was young and I looked young. I can not believe people would react differently to a mother feeding her child in a natural and normal way simply because she is young.

I have nursed in public many times, most of the time people simply leave me alone. I have gotten a few comments and dirty looks but mostly I was able to brush them off. I have not been asked to leave, yet and if I ever was I would raise a stink about it. I think more women need to nurse in public to make it more normal. If people saw this happening every day then no one would even bat an eye.

I did have one negative experience that had to do with nursing but it was more on the issue of having a photograph of my son nursing on a public page and nursing in the church that I was at the time attending. It was a horrifying and embarrassing situation. I had never been angrier of more mortified in my life. I was told that my picture was like porn, I was causing my fellow christian to stumble and hurting my parents business. Being talked to like this made me angry, mostly because it came from a pastor whom I trusted. Since then I have found a new church but this experience left its scars. I have become very edgy when it comes to this subject which is sad. No women should ever have to go through something like that or be made to leave simply because of the way she is choosing to feed her child.

When I nurse in public I do not use a blanket, simply because it just makes my kid mad, she would rip it off and yell. You would be able to see a heck of a lot more with me trying to wrestle the blanket, her and trying to pull my shirt down then if I sit down and simply life my shirt from the bottom or ware a nursing shirt. Most women I know do not over expose them selves and most are very discrete.

Ladies I encourage you to keep nursing in public, do not be ashamed of feeding your baby the way nature and God intended. You are doing nothing wrong and do not let anyone tell you that you are.