Breastfeeding, I support it but...

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Sorry, according to some posters, modesty, religion and protecting children trump the law. So sad.

Yep. And that is why the law is needed. Because the act has been perveted over the years and folks have tried to have these moms convicted of a perversion.


Side note. We were in some museum once though I cannot remember for the life of me where. Maybe MOSI in Tampa? Anyway, there was an exhibit on mammals and lots of pics of mammals nursing their young. Now I wouldn't have expected a photo of a human---too many sensitive people for that. But there was not one mention of humans anywhere in the exhibit.

I just don't get it. We are called mammals for a reason and it couldn't even be mentioned in an exhibit on mammals.

Anyway---I don't let the naysayers bother me. I'm
just shocked that in all of my 35 years, I've never witnessed such a display. And funny---any postings about a shocking over exposure observation always come with the "I support those who want to do it, but"
disclaimer. Then the thread is peppered with comments that support rights with opinions that are contrary to actual law. It is fascinating to say the least.

 

[LaurenLC]

I agree, and the picture of the baby in your siggy is about the cutest ever!

Thanks! We're pretty partial to her!

 

[kpm76]

We're going to have to disagree on that one. In my birthing class, they went over nursing. I hadn't made up my mind to nurse or not, but I really didn't need to see a class on it if I did. It's pretty basic. Two other women also didn't attend, also because they felt like it was being pushed upon them to do so, and their babies would end up bottom feeders because they didn't nurse.

If you do nurse, you can find many private places to do so. And please don't anyone give me the "would you have your child eat his chicken nuggets in the bathroom??" argument.

Frankly, some women are downright obnoxious and judgemental about nursing. And that turns a lot of people off of nursing.

I am very pro-nursing but respect a parent's decision to formula feed if that is what they decide is best for their family. Regardless, one cannot argue that the benefits of nursing outweigh the benefits of formula. It's just a fact; I'm not being judgmental.

I don't dispute the fact that some women are turned off to b/f because they feel "pressured" or because they feel some women are "militant" about it, but I do have a real problem wrapping my brain around this. No way would anyone influence my decision one way or another to do what I thought was best for my baby.....

 

[Toad_Passenger]

I am going to be rude. I am a manager, what should you be doing at work??????????

I do IT work for my office. I'm the one who gets to slack off all day (watch the World Cup games on ESPN3.com, etc.) and surf around the internet until someone decides to spill coffee on their keyboard, or tries to infect our entire network with a virus they got from a mass email from their friend Susie.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

I don't believe for one minute that a woman was doing the "full monty" while nursing her baby at the Main Street Bakery.

For one--while our FL liberal breastfeeding law allows for incidental exposure of parts during feedings, it doesn't allow the unused side to sit flashing in the breeze.

Nope---I don't believe your story.

Under what statute does it say this, though? As far as I can see there is no "timeline" or "exposure" test for how long the other breast may be exposed during breastfeeding (or how much of the breast/nipple is exposed). So long as the breast was being used at some point, she is in the clear with both breasts showing. She may have been in the process of covering it, or waiting for some sort of cream to work, but so long as she has the baby latched on at some point, I don't see anything in the Florida statutes that state she is in the wrong.

 

[EMom]

Well I have to say that even if I wasn't BFing I wouldn't want random people taking pictures of me. That would be weird and I would say something to them.

Yup, might be weird and you might say something, but it wouldn't do any good. It is your, mine, and everyone else's constitutional right to take a photo of you or anyone else except in a place you have an expectation of privacy (bathroom breastfeeding your child for example, not that I'm saying go into the bathroom to breastfeed your child....)

One person's weird is another's normal. If anything, this thread demonstrates that.

Person #1 thinks it's weird that Person #2 is breastfeeding while letting the spare breast hang out for all of Main Street to see. Person #2 thinks Person #1 should get over it. Person #3 and Person #4 see the spare breast, etc. and realize no one will believe the story unless they get a picture of what's going on, so they get to clicking. Person #2 is not happy that unfamiliar folks are snapping pics of her breast and thinks they are weird. Person #2 is now trying to figure out which one is the strangest.....The woman with the breast saluting all of Main Street or the amateur photographers. Meanwhile, both the breastfeeding/spare breast on display mom and the snap-happy tourists believe THEY are the normal ones.

I don't believe for one minute that a woman was doing the "full monty" while nursing her baby at the Main Street Bakery.

For one--while our FL liberal breastfeeding law allows for incidental exposure of parts during feedings, it doesn't allow the unused side to sit flashing in the breeze.

Nope---I don't believe your story.

And THAT is why we need pictures.....

 

[SnowWhite607]

The whole "Well, in EUROPE they....." argument bugs me. Newsflash: WDW isn't in Europe. It's in the US and here, letting your hoo-hoos hang out on Main Street in MK under the pretense of "nursing" when a kid's mouth is only attached to ONE of them is not accepted by the majority of our society.....Especially the ones who have taught their kids that certain body parts are private and not to be shared with 70,000 of your closest friends.

My sister nursed three kids and in public at that. No one ever had a clue. She never flashed even one of her girls, let alone had the spare one hanging out for all the world to see. When I go to Europe and I enter a cathedral in certain countries, I cover my head. In Russia, I take off my shoes when I enter someone's home. I do my best to follow the social customs and not pull the "Well in AMERICA, we ........" Because I'm not IN America.

Well, when you're in the big middle of MK, you are not in Europe or any place other than the US, and it's common courtesy to follow the social customs here. That means NOT letting your breasts hang out when at least one is not even serving a purpose. Slap a kid on the other one, keep it occupied and I'm good.

 

[december]

I guess I should warn you that I'm breastfeeding while typing this, but only one is out so I guess it is ok This isn't as much about the OP, but some of the posters who came after.....

I don't fully understand the argument that Disney should have rules in place so people aren't offended. My sister was offended by Gay Days participants a few weeks ago-I didn't see anything offensive during the same trip. Should Disney ban gay couples so conservative Christians are not offended. You could easily say "I didn't see anything in the brochures about gay men holding hands on Main Street, and I don't want my kids to see that until I'm ready." Sorry, that isn't an option.

We saw many women covered from head to toe in traditional Muslim clothing-I'm sure at least a few of them were offended by the scantily clad women at WDW. How is that any different than someone being offended by a woman breastfeeding?

I'm not arguing that women should be running around MK topless. I am wondering where all these exhibitionist breastfeeders are when I'm around. I'm not saying the OP didn't witness it, but it would have to be a rare incident.

I nursed my 13 month old (is that too old in some of your opinions?) all over WDW earlier this month. Never stepped foot in a baby care center. And not once did I nurse her in the bathroom. Did I need to go topless to do it? No, and most women don't either. You probably won't even notice most of us when we are feeding our babies. I would not have stood in front of the woman as described in the OP-if she was comfortable doing it that was her business. My MIL offered to get me a chair and put it in the unairconditioned bathroom Sat at a family function. Sorry-not going to happen, and I was quite frankly offended by her offer!

 

[LiberalPrincess]

I would like you to explain your thumbs up. Is it great that Europe is more accepting of breast feeding than Americans? What is great about it? Why is making a women's breasts objects which should be hidden a good thing? Are men's nipples just that much more acceptable? Please explain.

 

[EMom]

I would like you to explain your thumbs up. Is it great that Europe is more accepting of breast feeding than Americans? What is great about it? Why is making a women's breasts objects which should be hidden a good thing? Are men's nipples just that much more acceptable? Please explain.

Did I miss the part about a man sitting around shirtless, nipples and all, on Main Street?

Essentially, I am just tired of being told WE must bend to the cultural standards and norms of other countries and forget about our own.....even when in our own country.

 

[C.Ann]

It's interesting how quickly certain threads can veer off in a different direction.. Did someone actually suggest that laws be changed - or did they just make reference to certain people (or groups of people) who feel differently about this based on their personal beliefs?

I think "trumping the law" is a bit of a stretch..

 

[AKL_Megs]

Eh, I have been following this all day, and I honestly have to say, unless that woman was my cousin-in-law (she would be "full monty" on purpose, in the middle of Main Street, because she could, but mostly because it bothers you...), I would look at the person and think nothing of it, other than that they were showing off to everyone, and did they realize that. I'm not bugged at all by breastfeeding, but I am bothered by those mothers who feel they have every right to "show you" that they have every right. I don't think this woman was doing that, but we have established that already.

 

[LiberalPrincess]

Did I miss the part about a man sitting around shirtless, nipples and all, on Main Street?

Essentially, I am just tired of being told WE must bend to the cultural standards and norms of other countries and forget about our own.....even when in our own country.

Is this a joke? You have seen no shirtless men at Disney? You have seen no men with the tanks where their nipples show? How many times have you been? The sad thing is that you believe you bend your cultural standards by allowing women to have their breasts show while they feed their children. The fact that your cultural standards involve a women's breasts at all says a lot about you. Your standards oppress women. How proud you must be. Please stop putting your own puritanical views upon America. It is not America's standards you speak of - the laws say otherwise -- it is your OWN standards.

 

[Planogirl]

It looks like I missed a good one.

IF the woman was exposing herself to that point then she was a bit over the top. She'd best expect leering and comments and people taking pictures. That is IF she was really doing that.

People throw around Europe and what is acceptable there a lot. First of all, Europe is a lot of individual nations and they don't all think exactly the same. Secondly, I was raised in a certain European country and while BF is very accepted and expected, I don't think that they would be sitting there fully exposed either. Everything has its place.

Why can't people just meet halfway on this? BF away but try to be reasonably discrete? I think that most people are but there will always be extremists in any case.

 

[dejr_8]

Sorry, I should have made it clear that it would be posted HERE on The Dis. It doesn't seem to bother anyone that some people go to Disney and seek out people with ugly shoes and photograph them. I wonder how this post would go over on The Dis:

"Check out all the pictures I took while I was at Disney this weekend. They are all pictures of breastfeeding moms with their ****s handing out. Click on the link and let me know which ones you think are the hottest."

It could be a sister boards to the DIS. You would have

www.disboards.com

and that board would be

www.disb**bs.com

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Under what statute does it say this, though? As far as I can see there is no "timeline" or "exposure" test for how long the other breast may be exposed during breastfeeding (or how much of the breast/nipple is exposed). So long as the breast was being used at some point, she is in the clear with both breasts showing. She may have been in the process of covering it, or waiting for some sort of cream to work, but so long as she has the baby latched on at some point, I don't see anything in the Florida statutes that state she is in the wrong.

Eta: I'm not an attorney, of course. and I have already disclosed my disbelief in this incident.

The language is clear about "incidental exposure".

http://www.patlc.com/fl_law.htm


the definition of incidental is:

Happening or likely to happen in an unplanned or subordinate conjunction with something else.

By definition, if mom completely using one side, but NOT the other and the exposire is not in conjunction with the actual nursing either before or after ergo baby is not at all being readied or actively feeding or finishing or what have you...then technically, it isn't covered by the law as mom thinks it is.

I have my doubts to the reality of what was witnessed because it is not plausible for a woman to nurse and in an "unplanned way" have both out for a singleton. What is more likely, is that mom was in transition---or maybe she pulled up the "door" of her bra, but didn't latch it.

I wasn't there---I don't know. But never in any pro-breastfeeding legal matter that I have come across has a woman ever had the non used side completely exposed while actively nursing the other. I only read about it on the DIS.

 

[AshleyW]

Is this a joke? You have seen no shirtless men at Disney? You have seen no men with the tanks where their nipples show? How many times have you been? The sad thing is that you believe you bend your cultural standards by allowing women to have their breasts show while they feed their children. The fact that your cultural standards involve a women's breasts at all says a lot about you. Your standards oppress women. How proud you must be. Please stop putting your own puritanical views upon America. It is not America's standards you speak of - the laws say otherwise -- it is your OWN standards.

Oh for the love of pete. You are spinning people's words so fast that it's ridiculous.

You're not going to change anyone's mind, just like we obviously aren't going to change yours. If you want to have both your ****s hang out while you breast feed, feel free, but just know that you will probably get stares and eventually talked about on a forum somewhere. Because like it or not, that IS a cultural standard in America. Most Americans aren't used to seeing both ****s hanging out as it is not the standard. The law says that women can breastfeed in public, but there is a difference between breastfeeding tastefully in public and just letting your ****s hang out -- and American CULTURE is that you don't let your ****s just hang out like that. Good grief.

 

[cm8]

I did not feel I was policing the situation. I spoke to the mother and told her I would stand here until she was done and she smiled and nodded (though I have to admit she may not have understood what I said). I was doing what I thought was polite and would hope someone would do for me in the same situation.

, I agree with your statement and your actions!

 

[LiberalPrincess]

Oh for the love of pete. You are spinning people's words so fast that it's ridiculous.

You're not going to change anyone's mind, just like we obviously aren't going to change yours. If you want to have both your ****s hang out while you breast feed, feel free, but just know that you will probably get stares and eventually talked about on a forum somewhere. Because like it or not, that IS a cultural standard in America. Most Americans aren't used to seeing both ****s hanging out as it is not the standard. The law says that women can breastfeed in public, but there is a difference between breastfeeding tastefully in public and just letting your ****s hang out -- and American CULTURE is that you don't let your ****s just hang out like that. Good grief.

And maybe you should stop talking about "American culture" as your own. I am American, I have a different belief. As do many, just on this thread. Hmmmmmm.

 

[Planogirl]

And maybe you should stop talking about "American culture" as your own. I am American, I have a different belief. As do many, just on this thread. Hmmmmmm.

So based on what you see and hear on a regular basis, you believe that most people think it's OK if women go topless? I'm not talking about BF now but it sounded like you thought that women should feel free to go without a top on whenever men do.

Trust me, in my area that is NOT the norm.