Wednesday, January 18, 2006

NIP at Chuck E Cheese

(posted this to my nurse out group, and a slightly different version to that mommy group.)

Just went to a mommy group thing at Chuckie's. Thought I'd post
about what goes on in my head. This is why I started the group. So
we can all feel safe in public.

I'm so used to nursing in the comfort of my home, when we go out,
it's just so much of my day.

I bought a bra on the way there, and wore it for the first time at
chuckie's. The shirt creeping up in back. Finding a way out of the
new bra. (Not a nursing bra, never met one I liked) Usually I nurse
out the bottom of my shirt. I wasn't paying attention, and flipped
out the neckline, like when I'm at home. Can you see me with a paper
napkin, trying to cover that mistake? Can you see the toddler looking
over the booth wall curiously, and the mom pointedly ignoring her
curiousity? Can you see Nicholas shredding the napkin? (It's okay to
laugh here, he really did shred the napkin.)

I try to promote BF, and be a lactivist, but when I'm out in public,
alone... Besides, those moms were new to me, and I was trying to be
lowkey after last week's fiasco. The other yahoo group was not nice
about our discussion of the event at the Y. Moms basically told me
to shut up or they'd leave the group. They kept posting
misinformation, and when I'd reply to correct the myth, they'd say
they're sick of it, tell me to stop talking, and put in another jab,
which I needed to correct... (Short form, deleted many details,
just my perspective.)

I read about another mom being told to STOP bfing and move, every
day. Today the story was from California where the laws are very
clear, and the hostess still maintained that she was right, she said
(wrongfully) it was illegal, and she was nasty. Fortunately, her
manager was able to straighten her out, and apologize for her
behaviour. (Source was mothering.com advocacy and support today's
thread.)

It takes up a lot of my thinking when I Nurse In Public (NIP). Will I
be approached, will I be charged with something when I don't comply.
Here in Michigan we only have a small protection which prevents us
being charged with indecent exposure. We don't have the same
protections as other more crunchy states.

Even the way that many moms (on that other yahoo group) spoke up and
said no big deal about the
pool, you just have too... Seems to reinforce that here in Michigan,
we need a change.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sometimes that other group is looking for reasons to be offended. NIP is hard for many women, between the pressure to conform and the modesty imposed on nursing mothers, many feel that it's not worth the fight. I have never had problems NIP but I am not normal. I do not care what someone else thinks of my nursing, I don't care if the entire country sees my entire breast all I care about is feeding my baby. I'm on a mission to normalize breasts. If I could do it w/o getting arrested I'd walk around topless so people could get used to seeing breasts that are not enhanced or being used to sell something. Sorry I wasn't able to respond well in that other group, I was honestly too pissed off and ill to deal with it.

Michelle