Yeah, you heard me.
I said, breasts on a plane.
If that makes you uncomfortable, apparently you aren't alone. Catherine Connors of Toronto recently breastfed her young son on a WestJet flight from Vancouver to Toronto, when a flight attendant intimated that she should cover herself and her baby while she breastfed.
Connors, author of the popular parenting blog, Her Bad Mother, wrote this about her experience in a post titled “Under The Blanket:”
When she approached me in my seat near the back of the plane, blanket in hand, I ignored her. Jasper was tucked in at my breast, wrapped in his own blanket, his head pressed against the white half-moon of flesh that was barely visible beneath him. His head was damp from the stream of tears that had been running down my cheeks from the moment of our departure, the tears that I'd held back while saying my goodbyes. I bent my head over his, shielding my face, my breast, my baby, my tears from view with the veil of my hair. I didn't even look up when she spoke to me.
Excuse me, perhaps you'd like to cover up with a blanket?Connors isn't the first mother to express discomfort with the treatment she received during in-flight breastfeeding. In 2007, a Sante Fe, N.M., woman filed suit against Delta Air Lines and Freedom Airlines, after she was allegedly kicked off a flight for breastfeeding her then 22-month-old daughter.
These incidents, while more than two years apart, serve to illustrate the debate raging now about public breastfeeding.
The American Association of Pediatrics says breast is best for your baby. But many feel uncomfortable when women breastfeed in public. Just ask Bill Mahr, who riled up mothers everywhere when he spoke out against public breastfeeding.
It's hard to find out whether or not airlines have specific breastfeeding policies, and I'm not even sure if it's legal to prohibit a mom from feeding her babe using her preferred method.
No one wants to be uncomfortable, that's a fact. And when you are trapped on a plane with no where else to go, that discomfort can be amplified, no matter what its cause.
Lots of mothers feed their young children in-flight, to help prevent them from disturbing other passengers with their cries.
What's your take? Should airlines have specific breastfeeding policies, or is it a parent's prerogative to feed her baby in the manner she prefers, no matter where she is?
Tough question, isn't it?
What the AAP says about breastfeeding has nothing to do with covering yourself up. She had a blanket so what was the big deal? Was she wearing it like a turban? Why did the attendant say anything then? I breastfed all the time in public. I don't get these women that are all about toting them around on the boob in the wild. The pack of stuff you have to carry with a baby lends lots of articles for covering up decently.